Although the Taliban issued a partial apology for shooting 16-year-old education activist Malala Yousafzai, one of the group's leaders recently said she is still a target, Fox News reported.
Just a year after Yousafzai was almost murdered by a gunshot to the head in Pakistan for challenging a ban on women's education, Shahidullah Shahid told the Telegraph that she remains an enemy.
"We are not against Malala herself but we are against her ideology," Shahid said. "Anyone who campaigns against our religion and criticizes Islam, like she is doing with her secular ideology, is our enemy and so we will target her again, and again."
The teenage activist was attacked on October 9, 2012 while riding the bus home from school. On her blog, she discussed Taliban abuses and daily life struggles under Islamic rule, making the Taliban angry.
"She accepted that she attacked Islam so we tried to kill her, and if we get another chance we will definitely kill her and that will make us feel proud. Islam prohibits killing women, but except those that support the infidels in their war against our religion," Shahid said.
After the shooting, Yousafzai was flown to England to receive multiple surgeries to repair her skull. She and her family have permanently moved to England, where she returned to school in March.
Her book, "I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education And Was Shot By The Taliban," will be released on Tuesday -- one day before the one-year anniversary of her attack.
Yousafzai received international praise for her courageous attempts to stand up for women's education and won the 2013 International Children's Peace Prize. She is also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
After all of the positive attention she received, a senior Taliban commander wrote her a letter apologizing for her near-death experience.
"When you were attacked it was shocking for me. I wished it would never happened and I had advised you before," Adnan Rasheed wrote.
Despite the threats she receives, Yousafzai has a busy future planned ahead of her.
"I will be a politician in my future. I want to change the future of my country and I want to make education compulsory," she said. "I hope that a day will come [when] the people of Pakistan will be free, they will have their rights, there will be peace and every girl and every boy will be going to school," she said.
