Afghanistan's intelligence chief wounded in assassination bid

Afghanistan’s controversial intelligence chief was wounded in an assassination attempt in Kabul on Thursday, 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.

The intelligence agency confirmed the attack.

“The Afghan intelligence chief has survived a cowardly terrorist attack in the city of Kabul,” the NDS said in a brief statement. “The case is under investigation.”

There were few details on the nature of the attack. Witnesses heard an explosion. Police said Khalid was wounded by a grenade, but unconfirmed reports by senior government officials said it had been a suicide attack.