Islam Bibi, who was killed on her way to work in southern Afghanistan, had received death threats from her family
Gunmen have assassinated the top female police officer in Helmand province, a symbolic strike against women's rights in the heart of Afghanistan's conservative south.
Islam Bibi, 37, was shot dead on the way to a job that she loved, and had stuck with despite fierce opposition from her own family and warnings from insurgents.
Unknown attackers opened fire on Bibi in Lashkar Gah as she was riding pillion on her son-in-law's motorbike at around 7am.
"They were both injured, police took them to hospital and after 45 minutes she passed away. Her son-in-law is still being treated," said Omar Zwaak, spokesman for the provincial governor.
For years Bibi had served as both a defiant embodiment of women's progress since the fall of the Taliban, and a reminder of how far women's rights had to go in the country.
She headed the team of female officers in the criminal investigation department, but had to ignore death threats from her own brother.
"My brother, father and sisters were all against me. In fact my brother tried to kill me three times," Bibi, who had three children, told The Sunday Telegraph earlier this year. "The government eventually had to take his pistol away."
After years of recruiting drives, women still make up less than 2% of the province's forces. The opposition of Bibi's family is typical in southern Afghanistan, where many consider it shameful for women to work outside the home, where they may meet men from outside their family.
The Taliban has also run a campaign of intimidation and assassination against both women who work, and government officials, making female officials particularly vulnerable.
In 2008, the Taliban assassinated Malalai Kakar, head of the department of crimes against women in nearby Kandahar city and at the time the most senior female police officer in the country. She was also shot dead on her way to work, and left behind six children.
Two years earlier the provincial head of women's affairs for Kandahar, the province where the Taliban was founded, was killed. And last year two women who held the same post in eastern Laghman province were shot dead within 6 months.
"It has been increasingly dangerous over recent years to be a woman in public life in Afghanistan, and there has been a growing body count of women who have been brave enough to ignore the risks," said Heather Barr, Afghanistan analyst with Human Rights Watch.
"With the withdrawal of international forces and the deterioration we are seeing in women's rights, there is every reason to fear that these dangers will become even worse in the years ahead, especially in provinces such as Helmand that remain deeply insecure. "
Human Rights Watch warned earlier this year that female police officers were often subject to sexual harassment and abuse from their colleagues, in part because they lacked even basic facilities. There are just a handful of female toilets in all the police stations of Afghanistan, and women using male latrines are particularly vulnerable the report said.