Two gunmen have assassinated prominent Pakistani women 's rights activist Sabeen Mahmud by pulling up next to her vehicle at a traffic light and spraying it with bullets . Photographs taken of her vehicle show her sandals remained resting in the footwell of the driver 's seat , while the exterior of the white vehicle was left stained with her blood . While investigators declined to speculate on a motive for the killing , friends and colleagues immediately described her death as a targeted assassination in Pakistan - a country with a nascent democracy where the military and intelligence services still hold tremendous sway . Scroll down for video . Assassinated women 's rights activist Sabeen Mahmud 's sandals remain in the footwell of her car , where she was gunned down on Friday night . A Pakistani cameraman films her car hours after she was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle . Pakistani police officers examine the damaged car , who was killed as she returned to her home in Karachi . The gunmen shot both Mahmud and her mother , Mehnaz Mahmud , as they stopped at a traffic light Friday night in an upscale Karachi neighborhood , senior police officer Zafar Iqbal said . Later , journalists saw their car at a nearby police station , the front driver 's side window smashed out and the pair of sandals on the floorboard with broken glass all around them . Blood stained the car 's white body . 'Two men riding a motorcycle opened fire on the car , ' Iqbal said , adding that Mehmud 'died on her way to the hospital . Her mother was also wounded . ' Alia Chughtai , a close friend of Mahmud , said that she was driving at the time of attack and her mother was sitting next to her . She added that Mahmud 's driver , who escaped unharmed , was sitting in the back seat at the time of the attack but she was unsure why the driver was n't driving the car . Mr Iqbal and other police officials declined to offer a motive for the slaying . However , earlier that night Mahmud hosted an event at her organization called The Second Floor to discuss human rights in Baluchistan , an impoverished but resource-rich southwestern province bordering Iran . Thousands of people have disappeared from the province in recent years amid a government crackdown on nationalists and insurgent groups there . Activists blame the government for the disappearances , something authorities deny . Qadeer Baluch , an activist who last year led a nearly 3,000-kilometer ( 1,900-mile ) protest march across Pakistan to demand justice for the missing in Baluchistan , attended the event . He hinted that the government could be involved in Mahmud 's slaying . People carry the casket Sabeen Mahmud , who was killed by two unknown gunmen on a motorcycle . 'Everybody knows who killed her and why , ' Baluch told Pakistan 's The Nation newspaper , without elaborating . 'The programme organisers were already receiving threats . It is very difficult to talk about Baluchistan in Pakistan . ' Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned Mahmud 's killing and ordered an investigation into the attack . The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also condemned Mahmud 's slaying and offered condolences to her loved ones . Mahmud was ' a courageous voice of the Pakistani people and her death represents a great loss , ' it said . She was a well-known activist who also ran a small tech company , hosted poetry readings , computer workshops and other events at The Second Floor . She continued to live in Karachi , Pakistan 's southern port city , even while acknowledging the danger from insurgent groups and criminals operating there . 'Fear is just a line in your head , ' Mahmud told Wired magazine in 2013 . 'You can choose what side of that line you want to be on . ' Pakistan 's powerful army condemned the killing , pledging that the country 's intelligence agencies would assist in the investigation . A woman mourns after attending the funeral prayers of women 's rights activist Sabeen Mahmud .
Pakistani women 's rights activist Baluchistan gunned down in her car . Friends and family claim her brutal killing was a 'targeted assassination ' She was shot by two men on a motorcycle while idling at a traffic light .