KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Gen. Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistan’s most powerful security officials, was killed on Thursday when a bodyguard opened fire following a meeting in the governor’s compound in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said.

Gen. Scott Miller, the top US commander in Afghanistan who had been at the meeting with Razeq only moments earlier, was uninjured in the attack, but the local commander of the NDS intelligence service was killed and the provincial governor was severely wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had targeted both Miller and Razeq, who had a fearsome reputation as a ruthless opponent of the insurgents.

The attack was a devastating blow to the Afghan government ahead of parliamentary elections on Saturday, which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt.

“The brutal police chief of Kandahar has been killed along several other officials,” a Taliban statement said.

Razeq was criticized by human rights groups but highly respected by US officers who saw him as one of Afghanistan’s most effective leaders, largely responsible for keeping Kandahar province under control.

A flamboyant commander, he had survived several attempts on his life over many years and narrowly escaped an attack last year in which five diplomats from the United Arab Emirates were killed in Kandahar.

Officials said one of the governor’s bodyguards opened fire on Razeq as he came out of the meeting with Miller and other officials, severely wounding him and several other senior officials including the governor.

“Provincial officials including the governor, the police chief and other officials were accompanying the foreign guests to the plane when the gunshots happened,” said Said Jan Khakrezwal, the head of the provincial council.

NATO spokesman Colonel Knut Peters said Miller, who took command of US and forces and the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan last month, was uninjured but two Americans were wounded in the crossfire.

Meanwhile in a separate incident five Czech soldiers were injured in an apparent suicide attack on a military convoy in Afghanistan only two months after three others were killed, the Czech defense ministry said on Thursday.

“The attack on the Czech patrol occurred on Wednesday around 1220 GMT near the Bagram base in the Parwan province,” the ministry said in a statement.

The five soldiers were injured when an Afghan civilian car loaded with explosives was blown up as the convoy led by an American vehicle was passing by.

The blast swept the Czech vehicle with six soldiers — the sixth in the convoy —off the road and made it roll over to its side, Czech army chief of staff Ales Opata told reporters at a Thursday briefing in Prague.

“Initial findings suggest the car had a driver. We can assume this was a suicide attack,” he added.

One soldier with serious injuries underwent two surgeries and his life is no longer in danger.

Another with light injuries remained in hospital while the other three were released, the ministry said. The last soldier got away unscathed.

On Aug. 5, three Czech soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing while on patrol in the eastern Parwan province alongside a US soldier and two Afghan soldiers, who were wounded. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. — Agencies