A Dutch forensic team arrived in Malta Tuesday to investigate the death of a journalist who exposed her country’s links to the shady world of offshore banking in a fiery car bombing that her son calls an assassination.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was driving near her home on the island of Malta around 3 p.m. on Monday when her vehicle exploded, with the charred remnants of the Peuguot found on the side of a rural road, according to media on the island south of Sicily.

The 53-year-old had earned praise for her blog, which reported on the Maltese political leadership’s connections to the Panama Papers, a landmark trove of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack-Fonseca that shed light on how the world’s powerful sluice their money around the globe.

Her reports often centered on a scheme that reportedly saw those close to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat receive money from the the ruling family of Azerbaijan.

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Her last article, published less than an hour before her death, covered a libel case from the chief of staff to the prime minister accused of setting up a secret company in Central America.

Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb on Monday. (DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI/REUTERS)

“Everyone knows Ms. Caruana Galizia was a harsh critic of mine, both politically and personally as she was for others too,” Muscat said Monday before adding that nothing could justify the “barbaric act.”

Muscat, who denies any wrongdoing after reports that his wife also set up an offshore scheme, promised justice and said that the FBI has been called for help with the investigation.

But Galizia's son ripped into authorities including Muscat on Tuesday, posting on Facebook that his mother was "assassinated "because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it ... she was also targeted because she was the only person doing so."

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The son, who works for the International Consortium of International Journalists that helped publish the Panama Paper, said that "incompetence and negligence" led to the bombing.

The wreckage of Galizia's car lies at the side of a rural road. (Rene Rossignaud/AP)

Maltese media reported that Galizia had filed a police report about receiving threats two weeks ago. No suspects have been named in the case.

The younger Galizia added in his Facebook post that he is now in a "war against the state and organised crime, which have become indistinguishable."

His mother had worked as a columnist for Maltese newspapers since the 1980s, though her political blog launched in 2008 had brought her the most acclaim.

Earlier this year Politico had named her one of 28 people “shaping, shaking and stirring Europe.”

Some on the island have said the killing was a "political murder." (Rene Rossignaud/AP)

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said after her death that Galizia was a “tragic example of a journalist who sacrificed her life to seek out the truth. She won’t be forgotten.”

Thousands attended a vigil for Galizia on Monday night, expressing sympathy both for their country and for her family – a husband and two other sons besides Matthew.

Those tasked with investigating her death include officials who she had previously targeted, and Malta Today reported that her family has asked for magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera to remove herself from the case.

The Committee to Protect Journalists counts 27 journalists who have been killed so far in 2017.

With News Wire Services

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