Former Afghan MP Nabizada shot dead in Kabul

Mursal Nabizada, a former member of the Afghan parliament, has been killed by unidentified gunmen at his home in Kabul, police said.

Nabizada and his bodyguard were shot dead and his brother wounded in an attack over the weekend, police said.

The attack took place on Friday night, the police said in a statement issued later, noting that they were not informed until around 7 am on Friday morning.

“Police and security forces immediately swung into action and began investigating the case,” police said in a statement.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, he said.

Nabizada had been a member of parliament until the Taliban took over when foreign forces withdrew in 2021, when many politicians fled the country.

“Nabizada stayed in Afghanistan to fight for the rights of women and girls,” said Tirana Hassan, interim executive director at Human Rights Watch.

‘Tragic loss’

Karen Decker, charge d’affaires of the United States mission to Afghanistan, based in Qatar, called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

“Anger, heartache over Mursal Nabizada’s murder, a tragic loss,” he said.

“I offer my condolences to Mursal’s family and hope they receive justice for this despicable act.”

Nabizada has been elected to the lower house of parliament in 2018 to represent Kabul, according to local broadcaster Tolo.

The Taliban say they are focused on making the country safe and encouraging Afghans to return, but several attacks have occurred in recent months, including one on the Foreign Ministry last week claimed by Islamic State in which dozens of people were killed or wounded.

In December, one person was killed in a suicide bombing near the Kabul office of the Hezb-e-Islami party, while its leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was Afghanistan’s prime minister in the 1990s, was inside.