Malala describes moment she was shot at point-blank range by Taliban in new book

Washington , Sun, 06 Oct 2013 ANI

Washington, Oct. 6 (ANI): Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban last year for demanding education for girls, has described the moment she was shot point-blank by the terrorist group in her new book.

Before Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban commander, she told her best friend, 'Don't worry. The Taliban have never come for a small girl'.

Malala wrote in her autobiography 'I Am Malala', that she was not scared, but had started making sure the gate was locked at night and asking God what happens when one dies.

The 16-year-old worldwide symbol for peace and education was 11 years old when she took a stand against the Taliban, who had issued an edict that all girls' schools should be closed.

According to Abc News, she began advocating for girls' right to go to school, writing an anonymous blog for the BBC and appearing in a New York Times documentary.

Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, ran a girls' school in the SWAT Valley, and had been targeted for death by the Taliban.

Before the shooting, Malala wrote that she considered what she would do if a terrorist jumped out and shot her.

'Maybe I'd take off my shoes and hit him', she wrote. 'But then I'd think that if I did that, there would be no difference between me and a terrorist,' she added.

"It would be better to plead, 'Okay, shoot me, but first listen to me. What you are doing is wrong. I'm not against you personally. I just want every girl to go to school,'" she added.

On October 9, 2012, Malala was on the bus on her way back home from school when a 'bearded man' stepped into the road. Her best friend, Moniba, thought it was a reporter wanting to talk to Malala.

The bus was a white three-bench Toyota truck with 20 girls and three teachers packed inside.

The masked man approached the vehicle and demanded, "Who is Malala?" No one said anything, but several girls looked at Malala. She was the only one with her face uncovered.

"That's when he lifted up a black pistol," she wrote, adding "Some of the girls screamed. Moniba tells me I squeezed her hand."

"My friends say he fired three shots," Malala continued, adding: "The first went through my left eye socket and out under my left shoulder. I slumped forward onto Moniba, blood coming from my left ear, so the other two bullets hit the girls next to me ... My friends later told me the gunman's hand was shaking as he fired."

The bullet narrowly missed Malala's brain and she was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, six days after the attack.

She spent nearly three months in the hospital and underwent numerous surgeries.

Now, Malala and her family are living in Birmingham and she is back at school. (ANI)