A former Afghan lawmaker and her bodyguard have been shot dead at her home in the capital Kabul, Afghan police said. Mursal Nabizada, 32, was one of the few female MPs who remained in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
Her brother and a second security guard were injured in the attack on Sunday. Former colleagues hailed Ms Nabizada as a "fearless champion for Afghanistan" who refused to leave the country. Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women have been excluded from almost all areas of public life.
Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said security forces had launched a serious investigation into the incident. Former MP Mariam Solaimankhil said that Nabizada was a strong woman who stood up even in the face of danger.
"Despite being offered the opportunity to leave Afghanistan, she chose to stay and fight for her people," she wrote on Twitter.
The perpetrators of the serious crime have not yet been identified, but foreign media report that the cause of this attack was the Taliban, who have recently built an exclusionary system for all women who wish to participate in the public life of Afghanistan.