An Indian author, who wrote a bestselling memoir about life under the Taliban, has been shot by militants in Afghanistan.
Suspected Taliban militants broke into Sushmita Banerjee's home late last night in Paktika province.
Provincial police chief general Dawlat Khan Zadran said they tied up her husband before taking Ms Banerjee, 49, outside and shooting her.
Her body was then left near a religious school, the BBC reported.
Ms Banerjee was known for her memoir, A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife, a bestseller in India.
It tells the story of her marriage to Afghan businessman husband, Jaanbaz Khan, and their move to his country before she fled back to her native India.
The book was made into a 2003 Bollywood film called Escape From The Taliban.
She moved to Afghanistan in 1989 but escaped in 1995 after the Taliban's rise to power and restriction of women's rights.
In the book, Ms Banerjee described fleeing to neighbouring Pakistan but being forcibly brought back to the Afghanistan capital Kabul by her brothers-in-law.
She eventually tunnelled out of the house before being assisted by the Indian Embassy.
The BBC reports the Taliban has denied murdering Ms Banerjee, who was also known locally as Sayed Kamala.
No group has claimed responsibility.
According to local reports, Ms Banerjee and her husband had only recently moved back to Afghanistan.
She had been reportedly working as a health worker and filming the lives of women that she met.
The killing of Ms Banerjee is the latest in a string of attacks on prominent women in Afghanistan, adding to fears women's rights will recede even further in the country after US-led foreign forces leave.
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