A top Afghan female police officer was shot dead by Taliban militants in southern Kandahar province, while three civilians and eight Taliban militants were killed in separate incidents in the eastern region, officials said Sunday, according to DPA. Malalai Kakar, 41, head of the female officers at the provincial police department in Kandahar, was shot dead by two gunmen riding on a motorbike on Sunday morning, said Zelmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the provincial governor. Kakar died on the spot in the Chounai area of Kandahar city, while her son who was riding in the same vehicle was wounded, Ayoubi said. Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said the militants took responsibility for the attack and claimed that Kakar's son was also killed in the shooting. Kakar had received several threats in the past to leave the job or face consequences, he added. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing of Kakar and said the "cowardly attack" was the work of "enemies of peace in Afghanistan," the presidential palace said in a statement. Karzai also ordered security forces in the province to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice, the statement said. Kakar is the first female police officer to have been killed by direct Taliban fire since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
