JALALABAD: A female Afghan news anchor and activist was shot dead by assailants Thursday, her employer said, the second journalist killed in a month in Afghanistan. Malalai Maiwand, in her 20s, was killed along with her driver Mohammad Tahir in the eastern city of Jalalabad as they travelled to work, said Enekaas TV, the private television channel she worked for.

The journalist, whose activist mother was also killed by unknown gunmen five years ago, had previously spoken out about the difficulties of being a female reporter under Afghanistan's ultra-conservative patriarchal system. The Islamic State jihadist group claimed the murder.