Gunmen shot dead a former lawmaker and one of her bodyguards in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul in a night-time attack at her home, police said on Sunday.

Ms Mursal Nabizada was a member of Parliament in the US-backed government that was overthrown by the Taliban in August 2021.

“Security forces have started a serious investigation into the incident,” Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said, adding that a brother of Ms Nabizada was also wounded in the attack.

Ms Nabizada was a “fearless champion for Afghanistan”, another former lawmaker, Ms Mariam Solaimankhil, said on Twitter.

“A true trailblazer - strong, outspoken woman who stood for what she believed in, even in the face of danger,” she wrote.

“Despite being offered the chance to leave Afghanistan, she chose to stay and fight for her people,” she added.

Ms Nabizada, 32, hailed from the eastern province of Nangarhar, and was elected as a member of Parliament from Kabul in 2018.

“I am sad and angry and want the world to know!” tweeted Hannah Neumann, a member of the European Parliament, in response to the killing. “She was killed in darkness, but the Taliban build their system of gender apartheid in full daylight.”

Women worked in prominent positions across Afghan society in the two decades since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, with many becoming judges, journalists and politicians.

Many women in these professions have fled Afghanistan, however, since the Taliban returned to power.

Taliban authorities have rapidly squeezed women out of almost all areas of public life, banning them from secondary and higher education, public sector work and even from visiting public parks and baths.

They have also ordered women to cover their bodies in public, ideally in an all-encompassing burqa.(AFP)