Human rights activists say the lives of women in Iraqi society have worsened dramatically since the US-led invasion of March 2003, amid a general break down in law and order and the rise of conservative militias.
Captain Imad Khudhir of the Kirkuk police said 38-year-old Halima Ahmed Hussein al-Juburi was killed late on Friday by 10 unidentified attackers who broke into her home in the northern town of Hawijah.
"We do not know the motive behind the crime," he said.
Juburi was the head of the Human Rights organisation of Maternity and Childhood in Hawijah, a lawless town in an area plagued by insurgent groups. Her husband was not at home at the time of the attack.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006