<p>The attack struck at the heart of Afghanistan’s intelligence service and underscored the Taliban’s increasing ability to carry off complex and targeted attacks.<br />The explosion ripped through a crowd in Laghman province just as officials were leaving the main mosque in Mehterlam, 100 kilometres east of Kabul. <br />Two top provincial officials from Laghman were among the dead, and the blast destroyed several government vehicles.<br /><br />A Taliban spokesman said a suicide bomber on foot targeted Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate for Security (NDS). The spokesman for Laghman’s governor, Sayed Ahmad Safi, confirmed Laghmani was killed.<br />The National Directorate for Security is headed by an ethnic Tajik, and the killing of Laghmani, a Pashtun, could further exacerbate ethnic tensions as the country counts the results of the August 20 presidential <br />election.<br /></p>
<p>The attack struck at the heart of Afghanistan’s intelligence service and underscored the Taliban’s increasing ability to carry off complex and targeted attacks.<br />The explosion ripped through a crowd in Laghman province just as officials were leaving the main mosque in Mehterlam, 100 kilometres east of Kabul. <br />Two top provincial officials from Laghman were among the dead, and the blast destroyed several government vehicles.<br /><br />A Taliban spokesman said a suicide bomber on foot targeted Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate for Security (NDS). The spokesman for Laghman’s governor, Sayed Ahmad Safi, confirmed Laghmani was killed.<br />The National Directorate for Security is headed by an ethnic Tajik, and the killing of Laghmani, a Pashtun, could further exacerbate ethnic tensions as the country counts the results of the August 20 presidential <br />election.<br /></p>