A former female member of Afghanistan's parliament Mursal Nabizada and her guard were killed on Sunday by unknown gunmen at her residence in Kabul, police said.

"The security forces have started a serious investigation regarding the case to find the criminals," Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said in a statement.

The shooting happened around 3am on Sunday, according to local police chief Molvi Hamidullah Khalid.

He said Nabizada’s brother and a second security guard were wounded and a third security guard fled the scene with money and jewellery.

Abdullah, who was a top official in Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government, said he was saddened by Nabizada’s death and hoped the perpetrators would be punished. He described her as a “representative and servant of the people.”

Nabizada had been a lawmaker until the Taliban took over as foreign forces withdrew in 2021 when many politicians fled the country.

Nabizada had been elected as a member of the lower house of parliament in 2018 to represent Kabul, according to local broadcaster Tolo News.

The Taliban have said they said they are focused on securing the country and encouraging Afghans to return, but several attacks have taken place in recent months, including one at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week that killed and wounded dozens of people and was claimed by Islamic State.

In December, one person was killed in a suicide bomb attack 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.

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