Afghanistan's controversial intelligence chief was wounded in an assassination attempt in Kabul today, officials said. Asadullah Khalid, who heads the National Directorate of Security, was injured in a grenade attack in a spy agency guesthouse, police said.

A former cabinet minister and a key anti-Taliban figure, he was nominated to head the NDS by President Hamid Karzai in August and approved by parliament despite objections from Western rights groups and accusations that he tortured detainees.