Former Afghan lawmaker Mursal Nabizada shot dead at her home in Kabul

By Ehsan Popalzai and Tara Subramaniam, CNN

Former Afghan lawmaker Mursal Nabizada and her security guard were shot dead her home in Kabul early Sunday morning, according to Kabul police.

Nabizada represented Kabul in Afghanistan’s parliament from 2019 until the government was deposed by the Taliban in August 2021. She was one of the few female former lawmakers who remained in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.

Nabizada’s brother was also wounded in the attack, said Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran, who added that an investigation to determine who carried out the attack is underway.

The shooting took place around 3 a.m., local time on Sunday, according to local police chief Molvi Hamidullah Khalid.

Sunday’s shooting is the first time a lawmaker from the previous administration has been killed in the city since the Taliban seized power, but there have been signs of a deteriorating security situation in the country’s capital.

Last week, at least five people were killed in an explosion near the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, according to police in Kabul.

“Rising insecurity is of grave concern,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan wrote in a statement condemning the attack. “Violence is not part of any solution to bring lasting peace to Afghanistan.”

Since the Taliban took control of the country, multiple attacks have claimed dozens of lives in the capital.

In September last year, a suicide bomber killed at least 25 people, mostly young women, at an education center in Kabul.

Earlier that month, six people including two Russian Embassy employees were killed in a suicide blast near the Russian Embassy.

In August, an explosion at a mosque during evening prayers killed 21 people and injured 33.

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CNN’s Mostafa Salem, Eyad Kourdi, Karen Smith and Rhea Mogul contributed reporting.