**Afghanistan’s deputy chief of intelligence, Abdullah Laghmani, has been killed in a suicide attack on a mosque east of Kabul, officials say.**At least 22 other people are feared dead after the attack in the city of Mehtar Lam, in Laghman province.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said a suicide bomber had targeted Mr Laghmani.
The attack came after the UN released a report saying opium cultivation had dropped significantly in Afghanistan.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said poppy cultivation had dropped by 22% in a year and opium production by 10%.
‘Many deaths’
A spokesman for the interior ministry told AFP news agency the Mehtar Lam blast was caused by a suicide bombing.
“There are a big number of civilian deaths. A number of government officials have also been killed,” Zemarai Bashary said.
Officials said at least 23 people had been killed.
Reuters news agency quoted an eyewitness who saw a pick-up truck carrying wounded people covered in blood.
Eight ambulances left the scene, headed toward Jalalabad, the nearest big city, the witness said.
The attack underlines the Taliban’s ability to carry out complex and targeted attacks which hit at the heart of the Afghan state, correspondents say.
It is the latest in a string of deadly attacks mainly in the south and east of Afghanistan, occurring in the weeks before and since the country’s 20 August presidential and provincial elections.
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