Honduran environmentalist Berta Caceres murdered

Honduran indigenous activist Berta Caceres, a respected environmentalist who won the prestigious Goldman Prize last year for her outspoken advocacy, was murdered in her home Thursday, her family said.

Caceres's mother said police had indicated her daughter was killed in a robbery, "but we all know it was because of her struggle."

Caceres, who had received death threats for her work, was shot dead in the early hours of Thursday at her home in the western town of La Esperanza, her mother told TV network Globo.

The campaigner won the 2015 Goldman Prize, considered the world's top award for grass-roots environmental activism, for leading the indigenous Lenca people in an ultimately successful struggle against a massive hydroelectric dam project that would have flooded large areas of indigenous lands and cut off water supplies.

In awarding her the prize, the group commended her for carrying on her campaign despite death threats, writing: "Her murder would not surprise her colleagues, who keep a eulogy -- but hope to never have to use it. Despite these risks, she maintains a public presence in order to continue her work."

Honduras, which has seen an explosion of gang violence, has one of the highest murder rates in the world.