Police probe execution-style shooting in northern Athens suburb

A 33-year-old woman who was found dead in her car in the affluent northern Athens suburb of Kifissia on Wednesday was shot with an assault rifle and had a lengthy criminal record, including drug and theft charges.

She is believed to have been killed on Tuesday as she sat in her Mercedes car in the garage at her home.

Forensic examiners have found at least 16 casings from a Kalashnikov, as well as from a 9mm pistol, in the car's interior, suggesting the killing was a professional hit.

Police are investigating possible links to organized crime, as the woman's death comes in the wake of at least five similar executions of high-profile figures of the Athens criminal world, believed to have been carried out as part of a turf war between rival gangs.