KABUL: The newly appointed governor of Afghanistan's rugged mountain province of Nuristan was killed when the car he was travelling in plunged into a river en route to Kabul, his deputy said Saturday.

Hazrat Din Noor, 55, was killed Friday along with his driver and a bodyguard in the Sarobi area roughly 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital, deputy governor Halim Nuristani told AFP.

A former commander in the anti-Soviet resistance, Noor had replaced Tamim Nuristani who was sacked days after speaking out against July 4 US-led air strikes said to have killed 17 civilians.

The reasons for his dismissal were not made clear and it was not certain if it was related to his comments on the casualties.

Nuristan, one of 34 provinces in Afghanistan, is in the Hindu Kush mountains on the border with Pakistan.

- AFP/yt