MIHTARLAM; A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in Afghanistan today, killing the deputy head of Afghan intelligence and more than 20 other people, officials said. The assassination of such a high-profile member of the Western-backed Afghan security services, which have been on the frontline of an increasingly deadly Taliban insurgency, shocked the country just weeks after key elections. The attack in eastern province of Laghman was the second high-profile bombing in Afghanistan since the August 20 presidential and provincial council elections. More than 50 people, including women and children, were wounded after the bomber detonated his explosives in a crowd of people leaving the main mosque in Laghman’s provincial capital Mihtarlam following a meeting, officials said.