KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A top policewoman in southern Afghanistan died early Monday after being shot by unknown attackers, months after her predecessor was also slain.
Her death, one of the latest in a string of attacks on prominent Afghan women, could make it even harder to recruit female officers in a deeply conservative nation where just 1 percent of the police are women.
Subinspector Negar, who like many Afghans goes by one name, was buying grass for her lambs outside her home on Sunday when two gunmen drove up on a motorbike and fired at her, said Omar Zawak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand province. She suffered a bullet wound to the neck, and the attackers got away.
Doctors tried to save her. But police spokesman Fareed Ahmad Obaidi said she died at 1 a.m. Monday. Her body, wrapped in a worn green blanket, was placed on a stretcher and taken to a dusty desert cemetery in a police ambulance. Negar’s funeral was attended by colleagues and family members, many vowing revenge on the attackers.
‘‘They have given us warning that one of us will be killed every three months and we will be killed one by one,’’ said fellow policewoman Malalai, who also goes by one name.
She did not say who was behind the killing, but the Taliban are believed to be behind many of the recent assaults on Afghan women. The insurgents have not claimed responsibility for the attack on Negar, and a Taliban spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.