KABUL: Taliban militants have killed Sushmita Banerjee, an Indian writer who authored a best-selling book about her dramatic escape from the Taliban in 1995, police said on Thursday. No group has claimed responsibility for her killing as yet.
The 43-year-old Banerjee was shot dead on Thursday as Taliban militants arrived at her house in Kharana, capital of Afghanistan’s Paktika province, tied up her husband and other members of the family, took Banerjee out and shot her, police said. They dumped her body near a religious school, police added.
A senior police official said Banerjee, also known as Sayed Kamala, was working as a health worker in Paktika and had been filming the lives of local women as part of her work. Banerjee had moved to Afghanistan in 1989 after marrying Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan.
Banerjee’s book “Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou” (A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife), about her escape from the Taliban in 1995, became a bestseller in India and was made into the Bollywood film “Escape From Taliban” in 2003.
The memoir focussed on her life in Afghanistan with her husband and her escape from the militants.
The film based on the book starred actress Manisha Koirala and was billed as a “story of a woman who dares (the) Taliban”.
