The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has voiced shock and sadness after learning of the deaths earlier Tuesday of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former president who has been spearheading recent peace and reconciliation efforts within the country, and several colleagues in an apparent suicide attack.

Media reports indicate that Professor Rabbani – who was serving as Chairman of the High Peace Council in Afghanistan – was killed at his home in Kabul, the capital, as he was meeting with members of the Taliban in a bid to bring about a rapprochement.

A number of people were injured, include Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the joint secretariat of Afghanistan's Peace and Reintegration Programme, according to a news release issued by UNAMA.

"UNAMA condemns in the strongest possible terms this attack on people who were working to bring peace in Afghanistan and extends its deepest condolences to the families of those affected," the mission said in a statement.

Staffan de Mistura, the head of UNAMA and the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, stressed that "the search for peace must continue," adding that UNAMA will assist efforts to bring peace to the violence-wracked country.