Mehtar Lam (Afghanistan), Sept. 2 (Reuters): A suicide bomber killed at least 23 people, including the country’s deputy head of intelligence, in an attack near a mosque in eastern Afghanistan today, officials said.

Lutfullah Mashal, governor of Laghman province who escaped injury in the attack, said the bomber burst from a shop and blew himself up while officials were getting into cars outside the mosque in the provincial capital Mehtar Lam.

He said the 23 dead included two provincial officials as well as Abdullah Laghmani, deputy head of the powerful National Directorate for Security and one of the highest-ranking security officials in President Hamid Karzai’s government to be killed.