Senior women’s activist murdered in eastern Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai described the assassination as a “terroristic” one, a term he often uses to describe attacks either by Taliban-led insurgents or al-Qaeda militants. No group or individual has made any claim of responsibility.

The Taliban has yet to comment on the shooting, which comes a week after a teenage girl, volunteering in an anti-polio drive, was fatally shot northeast of Kabul. Officials have said they do not believe the girl’s death was politically motivated.

The Taliban has targeted senior female officials in the past for working in the U.S.-backed Afghan government. But other attacks on women have been linked to family members of the victims, who resent their female relatives working in the government or promoting the cause of women in Afghanistan’s deeply traditional and male-dominated society.