First photos of shot politician

THE first photos of US politician Gabrielle Giffords since she was shot in the head in a mass shooting five months ago were released yesterday.

The photos appeared on her Facebook page.

In one she is alone and smiling at the camera, her hair trimmed short with the skin on the side of her head slightly discoloured but with no clear sign of any scarring. In the other, she is sitting with a woman.

Giffords has been in a Houston rehab facility since two weeks after the January 8 shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

Six people were killed and 13 were injured, including Giffords.