Taliban militants have killed a pregnant police officer in front of her husband and children in Afghanistan, reports claim.
The men then reportedly mutilated her face as they went about door-to-door executions in Firozkoh, the capital of central Ghor province.
Banu Negar, who worked in a local prison, was eight months pregnant when she was killed at her home on Saturday.
Relatives are said to have supplied the BBC with graphic evidence of her horrific death, reportedly showing blood spattered on a wall along with her disfigured face.
The relatives claimed three gunmen showed up to the home on Saturday and searched it, before tying members of Banu’s family up.
The broadcaster reports three sources told the broadcaster Mrs Negar was beaten, then shot dead in front of her family.
The intruders were heard speaking Arabic, a witness said.
The Taliban has denied responsibility for the death as claims its militants are carrying out atrocities escalate.
The hardline group has claimed it has changed, and its official policy is it will not carry out retribution killings or repress women.
Women’s education was banned under Taliban rule in the 1990s, and its takeover in the past month has led to fears it will return to its revive its old reign of terror.
The Taliban has said it will allow women to hold jobs and receive education – but under its interpretation of Islamic law.
But within days of its return to power there were claims women were being turned away from workplaces and universities in some parts of the country.
Many women donned burkas and were among those attempting to flee the county in fear of Taliban rule.
Afghanistan’s youngest female mayor was among those to bravely speak out about her fears before going into hiding.
Zarifa Ghafari said she feared the Taliban would “come for people like me and kill me” as its militants closed in on Kabul before the capital fell to its rule just weeks ago.
Despite its official promises since then, human rights groups are alleging that Taliban militants are being documented carrying out revenge killings, detentions and persecuting religious minorities in pockets of Afghanistan.
In response to the allegations about Mrs Negar’s death, official Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed denied the group’s involvement.
He told the BBC: “We are aware of the incident and I am confirming that the Taliban have not killed her, our investigation is ongoing.”
He said the Taliban had announced an amnesty for people who worked for the previous administration and described her murder as “personal enmity or something else”.
Earlier this week, a top female Afghan police officer went on the run after suffering a “brutal beating” from the Taliban.
Gulafroz Ebtekar, a deputy head of criminal investigations in Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry, was reportedly singled out by the Taliban as a target at the gates outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, where thousands waited hoping to flee Kabul.
Reports claim she has gone into hiding after spending five fruitless nights attempting to secure a spot on an evacuation flight before UK and US forces withdrew from Kabul ahead of the August 31 deadline.
