KANDAHAR, Sept 28: Taliban fighters shot dead the most high-profile woman police officer in Afghanistan on Sunday and killed four more policemen in other attacks.

Malalai Kakar, the most senior policewoman in the southern city of Kandahar and a mother of six, was shot dead by gunmen who had been waiting outside her home, government officials said.

Her teenaged son, who was driving her to work, was badly hurt. “Malalai Kakar died in front of her house. Her son was wounded,” Kandahar province government spokesman Zalmay Ayoobi said.

A doctor in the city’s main hospital said Ms Kakar, aged around 40, was shot in the head. “She died on the spot and her son was badly injured...,” he said on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for the Taliban movement said the assassins were from his group. “We killed Malalai Kakar,” spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP. “She was our target and we successfully eliminated our target.”

US-installed President Hamid Karzai said in a statement the killing was an “act of cowardice” by Afghanistan’s “enemies.”—AFP