Motive is murky in shooting attack on female Afghan lawmaker

KABUL, Afghanistan - A female Afghan lawmaker was wounded in a shooting that her sister called a political attack, but which the government on Wednesday described as resulting from an undetermined personal dispute with a police officer.

Maryam Koofi was recovering in a Kabul hospital after being shot twice in the leg the previous night as she left her office. Her bodyguard was more seriously wounded, with shots in his head and leg.

It was the second attack in a day on a high-profile figure in the capital. On Tuesday morning, Afghanistan’s deputy public works minister was abducted from his car.

Koofi is a parliament member from the northern province of Takhar. Her sister, Fawzia Koofi, is also a member and a well-known women’s-rights activist.

Fawzia Koofi said her sister told her she was just getting into her car after dark when an unseen attacker fired. She said she was convinced that the shooting was an act of political intimidation by those who oppose the rights women have been granted since the fall of the hard-line Islamic Taliban government.