The state funeral service for Afghan First Vice President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim was held amid tight security in the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

The funeral prayers was held inside the palace after the body of Fahim was shifted there, following a military ceremony held in defense ministry compound.

Afghanistan's first vice president died on Sunday morning due to protracted illness at the age of 56.

In addition to participation of hundreds of Afghan mourners, foreign dignitaries and Kabul based diplomats attended the ceremony and paid homage to late Fahim.

Speaking on the occasion, President Hamid Karzai praised the services of late Fahim and described his death as a great loss to the nation and expressed sympathy with his family and the people of Afghanistan.

Fahim, an ethnic Tajik from eastern Panjshir province, had played a significant role over the past four decades in the history of Afghanistan.

The government of Afghanistan announced a three-day national mourning from Monday during which the national flag will be half- hoisted at home and Afghanistan diplomatic missions abroad.

A close aide to late Ahmad Shah Masoud, the Afghan national hero, the late Fahim had fought against the invading forces of the former Soviet Union from 1979 to 1989 and later against the then Moscow-backed regime of Najibullah until its collapse in 1992 and later against the Taliban regime until it was toppled by the US- led military coalition campaign in late 2001.

Fahim had served in different capacities including defense minister and vice president over the past 13 years in the post- Taliban Afghanistan.

Fahim's body is being prepared to lie at the top of Dehkepak hill in northern Kabul.