Suicide Bomber Kills Afghan Intel Deputy

A suicide bomber managed to infiltrate Afghan security and killed 23 people, including the deputy chief of intelligence when they visited a mosque in Kabul.

The bombing, which occurred in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, struck at the heart of Afghanistan's intelligence service and underscored the Taliban's increasing ability to carry off complex and targeted assaults.

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 defense officials throughout the area.

He was an ethnic Pashtun, along with nearly all the Taliban, but fought with a Tajik-led faction during the war against the Taliban that preceded the U.S.-led invasion of 2001.

That suggests that the terrorists knew Laghmani's itinerary and were able to be in a position to attack. It isn't unlike a similar penetration of security in Saudi Arabia, where an al Qaeda terrorist managed to board a plane with that country's deputy security chief.