Don't think a woman should wear a veil in court: Malala Yousafzai

London: Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education says she does not think a woman should wear a veil in court or where it is necessary to show her identity.

The 16-year-old, nominated for this year's Nobel peace prize, said she is of the view that a woman should not cover her face in court or in other places "where it's necessary to show your identity".

"I don't cover my face because I want to show my identity," Malala, who considers herself a believing Muslim said.

Asked what she thinks of the burqa in the UK, Malala told the Guardian, "I believe it's a woman's right to decide what she wants to wear and if a woman can go to the beach and wear nothing, then why can't she also wear everything?"

Her memoir 'I Am Malala', that the teenager has written with journalist Christina Lamb, has a brief but vivid description of the Taliban assassination attempt on her that shot her to fame.

The book recounts Malala's life before and after October 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded a school bus full of girls in Pakistan's Swat Valley and asked "Who is Malala?"

Then he shot her in the head.

"The air smelt of diesel, bread and kebab mixed with the stink from the stream where people still dumped their rubbish," Malala recalls.

One of her friends told her later that the gunman's hand shook as he fired.

One of the moving details in the memoir is that her mother was due to start learning to read and write on the day Malala was shot.

Malala mentions more than once in her book that no one believed the Taliban would target a schoolgirl, even if that schoolgirl had been speaking and writing against the Taliban's ban on female education since the age of 12.

In her book, Malala writes of how her speech at the United Nations received plaudits around the world, but in Pakistan people accused her of seeking fame and the luxury of a life abroad.

Pakistani Taliban vow to attack Malala Yousafzai again

Malala Yousafzai gives a speech after receiving the RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Award at the Southbank Centre in central London on October 4 

Miranshah, Pakistan: The Pakistani Taliban on Monday said schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai had "no courage" and vowed to attack her again if they got the chance.

Gunmen sent by the Taliban tried to kill Malala on her school bus on October 9 last year.

She amazingly survived being shot in the head and has become a global ambassador for the right of all children - girls as well as boys - to go to school.

Having spread a message of "education for all" across the globe, the 16-year-old is now among the favourites for the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be awarded on Friday.

But Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the main Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) umbrella group, slammed Malala and said they would try again to kill her.

"She is not a brave girl and has no courage. We will target her again and attack whenever we have a chance," Shahid told AFP.

In an interview with the BBC, Malala dismissed the threats against her life and repeated her desire to return to Pakistan from Britain, where she was flown for treatment after the attack and where she now goes to school.

She first rose to prominence during the Taliban's 2007-09 rule in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley with a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling the rigours of daily life under the Islamists.

"She even used a fake name of Gul Makai to write a diary. We attacked Malala because she was used to speaking against Taliban and Islam and not because she was going to school," Shahid said.

While she has been feted by celebrities and world leaders across the West, in deeply conservative Swat, Malala's achievements are eyed with suspicion by some.