Martyrdom-seeking operation kills Afghan deputy chief of intel

FIGHTER · Murabit Number of posts: 69 Gender: Brother Registration date: 2009-06-24

Martyrdom-seeking operation kills Afghan deputy chief of intel

As'Salaamu alaiakum.

Claimed by the brother Zabiullah Mujahid:

Quote:

Taliban blast kills Afghan deputy chief of intel

By RAHIM FAIEZ,
Associated Press Writer
15 mins ago

An explosion ripped through a crowd of government officials attending the inauguration of a mosque east of Kabul on Wednesday, killing Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence in what the Taliban said was a targeted attack.

The blast destroyed several government vehicles, including one used by Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy chief of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security. The provincial governor's spokesman, Sayed Ahmad Safi, confirmed that Laghmani was killed.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said a suicide bomber targeted Laghmani.

The killing strikes at the heart of Afghanistan's intelligence service and underscores the Taliban's increasing ability to carry off complex and targeted attacks.

The National Directorate of Security is headed by an ethnic Tajik, and the killing of Laghmani, a Pashtun, could further exacerbate ethnic tensions as the country sorts out the results of the Aug. 20 presidential election. With about half the results in, President Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun, leads Abdullah Abdullah, who is half Pashtun and half Tajik but is seen as a Tajik candidate.

The blast in Laghman province killed several government officials and wounded many civilians, said a government official who said he could not be identified because death tolls had not been made public. The blast shook the city of Mehterlam, 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Kabul, and U.S. troops responded to the scene.

Officials and dozens of civilians had gathered in Mehterlam to inaugurate a mosque when the explosion occurred, Safi said. He described the blast as "big."

Associated Press