Kabul, September 03: One of the most senior and heavily guarded security officials in Afghanistan was killed yesterday in a suicide bombing. The blast at a mosque near Laghman east of the Afghan capital Kabul, also killed 23 others including women and children and injured 36 others.
The target of the lone bomber was a group of VIPs who had gathered at the entrance of the mosque in Laghman. In what will be seen as a major propaganda coup for the Taliban, the blast claimed the life of Abdullah Laghmani, the highly influential deputy head of Afghanistan’s intelligence service.
The attack by insurgents shattered a period of relative quiet period following the national elections. But it came at a highly volatile time with continuing bitter recriminations and rising ethnic tension over fraud and disputed results.
–Agencies