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Gunmen in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar have killed the country's most prominent policewoman, officials say.
Lt-Col Malalai Kakar, head of Kandahar's department of crimes against women, was shot in her car as she was about to leave for work.
Her son was also wounded in the attack, and is said to be seriously injured.
Officials often blame Taleban rebels for such attacks. Under the ousted Taleban regime, women were banned from joining the police.
Ms Kakar, who was reported to be in her early 40s and had six children, was one of the most high-profile women in the country.
She has figured prominently in the national and international media, partly due to a famous episode in which she killed three would-be assassins in a shoot-out - although she said her everyday life involved tackling theft, fights and murders.
Ms Kakar joined Kandahar's police force in 1982, after her father and brothers were also police officers.
But when the hard-line Taleban regime took over Afghanistan she was prevented from working.
Kandahar is a key battleground of the Taleban insurgency, where Afghan and foreign troops are fighting the rebels.
(BBC)
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