Afghan Intelligence Chief Among 23 Killed in Taliban Suicide Attack

The violence just hasn’t let up in Afghanistan in the nearly two weeks that have passed since the nation’s presidential election. The latest deadly episode came in the form of a Taliban suicide attack east of Kabul on Wednesday that killed 23 people, including Afghanistan’s deputy head of intelligence, Abdullah Langhmani.  —KA

The Washington Post:

The explosion ripped through a crowd in Laghman province just as Abdullah Laghmani, deputy chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate for Security, and other officials were leaving the main mosque in Mehterlam, 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Kabul. Laghmani died at the scene, according to Sayed Ahmad Safi, the spokesman for the local governor.

A Taliban spokesman said a suicide bomber on foot targeted Laghmani, a key figure in Afghanistan’s security services. President Hamid Karzai and the United Nations condemned the attack.

Laghmani was the former intelligence chief for Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold. In his most recent post, he directed intelligence operations, especially in eastern Afghanistan, and appointed local intelligence officials throughout the area.

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AP / Rahmat Gul

Mourning in Afghanistan: Men offer funeral prayers near the bodies of three civilians killed in a suicide attack in Mehterlam, capital of Laghman province, on Wednesday.