A senior male police officer in Liberia's South Eastern region has been suspended for allegedly beating a female colleague and inflicting facial injuries.

Images of the assaulted officer were splashed in the country's newspapers on Monday.

The reports say that she nearly lost an eye in the attack and her nose had to be stitched.

The country's police spokesman Moses Carter said the senior officer had been transferred to the capital, Monrovia, where he will be questioned.

Before he was suspended, the officer had told the BBC that he would not speak to the media about the allegation.

The incident coincides with a national campaign for inclusion of women in national affairs.