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Journalist, woman’s rights campaigner, killed days after speaking out on being threatened

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An Afghan journalist and woman’s rights campaigner, Mena Mangal, just days after speaking out on threats to her life, has been shot dead and in broad daylight.

The shooting was carried out in a public place on Saturday morning while she was on her way to work in the capital city of Kabul.

A spokesman for the interior ministry, Nasrat Rahimi, said one or possibly more assailants had escaped the scene but no one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and police say it is not yet clear whether the murder was a terror attack or an attack from someone Ms Mangal knew.

Women’s rights activists have expressed grief and anger that Ms Mangal was not better protected by authorities despite making her fears clear.

“This woman had already shared that her life was in danger. Why did nothing happen? We need answers,” Wazhma Frogh, an Afghan human rights lawyer and women’s rights campaigner said in a post on Twitter.

Frogh said Mangal had recently posted on Facebook that she feared for her life and was receiving threats.

Mangal, in her time, was a highly regarded former journalist who had worked at Tolo TV, the largest private broadcaster in Afghanistan, as well as Shamshad and Lemar television stations.

She had also recently become a cultural adviser to the lower chamber of Afghanistan’s national parliament.

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