A suicide attack killed 23 people, including 18 civilians and four government officials, outside a mosque in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, the provincial governor said.
Among the four officials killed was the deputy head of Afghanistan's intelligence service, Lutfullah Mashal told a news conference in Mihtarlam, capital of the relatively peaceful Laghman province.
The head of the provincial council, the provincial chief executive and the former head of religious affairs in the provincial government were also killed.
"Eighteen civilians were killed. Three were women," Mashal said.
The bomber wounded dozens of people, detonating his explosives in a crowd of people outside the main mosque in Mihtarlam, the provincial capital of eastern Laghman province, where senior government officials were gathering.
It was the second high-profile bombing in Afghanistan since landmark presidential and provincial council elections were held on August 20 under a cloud of Taliban intimidation and attacks.
The insurgent militia claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman said that Afghanistan's deputy intelligence chief Abdullah was the target and that he had been killed.
"There was a suicide attack outside Mihtarlam mosque. There are a big number of civilian deaths. A number of government officials have also been killed," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.
He declined to give further details on the identities of the casualties, but confirmed that Laghman's provincial governor and police chief were unhurt.
An official at the Afghan health ministry said at least 23 bodies had been brought into hospitals with 36 people wounded.
"But as the dead and wounded were taken to the mosque, other clinics and shops, the number of dead and wounded will increase," spokesman Doctor Ahmad Farid Raaid told AFP in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Sayed Ahmad Safi, spokesman for the Laghman provincial government, said around 20 people were killed and even more wounded.