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Top female Afghan police officer shot dead

Lieutenant Islam Bibi received regular death threats, including from her own brother

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Female soldiers of Afghan National Army in Kabul. Photo: AP

Gunmen on Thursday shot dead one of the most high-profile female police officers in Afghanistan, underlining the threat to women who take on public roles in the country.

Lieutenant Islam Bibi was a well-known face of female advancement, but admitted to receiving regular death threats from people who disapproved of her career - including from her own brother.

“She was shot by unknown assailants when she was being driven to work by her son in the morning,” Helmand provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

“She was badly wounded and taken to hospital, and later died in emergency care. Her son was also injured.”

Bibi, aged 37 and a mother of three, was seen as an example of how opportunities for women have improved in Afghanistan since the repressive Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.

She was the most senior female officer serving in Helmand, a hotbed of the Islamist insurgency that was launched against the US-backed Kabul government after the fall of the Taliban.

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