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Taliban shooting victim Malala Yousufzai leaves UK hospital

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:09:00 +0000

LONDON (AP) -- A 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has been released from a Birmingham hospital to live with her family, doctors said Friday.

Photographs released by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham showed Malala Yousufzai hugging nurses, waving and smiling shyly.

Malala will live with her parents and two brothers in the UK while she continues to receive treatment, but will be admitted again in the next month for another round of surgery to rebuild her skull.

Experts have been optimistic that Malala, who was airlifted from Pakistan in October to receive specialized medical care, has a good chance of recovery because the brains of teenagers are still growing and can better adapt to trauma.

"Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery," said Dr. Dave Rosser, the medical director for University Hospitals Birmingham. "Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers."

Police question Malala’s visitors at U.K. hospital

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:46:00 +0000

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -- British police have questioned two people who tried to visit a hospitalized Pakistani teenager shot for promoting girls' education, raising fears about her safety following pledges by the Taliban to make another attempt on her life.

Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head by the Taliban last week as she was returning home from school in Pakistan. She was airlifted Monday to Britain to receive specialized medical care and protection from follow-up attacks threatened by the militants.

Medical Director Dr. Dave Rosser of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham stressed Tuesday that security was "under control" at the hospital after the overnight incident. He said several people had turned up at the hospital claiming to be the girl's relatives but didn't get very far.

He said the people were arrested, but police said they had only been questioned.

"We don't believe there's any threat to her personal security," Rosser told journalists, explaining the hospital did not believe the suspects were related to Malala. "We think it's probably people being over-curious."

Police would not immediately confirm the details of the incident.

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Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:23:00 +0000

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Malala sent to UK for treatment

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:17:00 +0000

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan airlifted a wounded teenage activist shot by the Taliban to the United Kingdom on Monday for more specialized medical care and to protect her from follow-up attacks threatened by the militants.

The attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai as she was returning home from school in Pakistan's northwest a week ago has horrified people across the country and abroad. It has also sparked hope the government would respond by intensifying its fight against the Taliban and their allies.

Malala was targeted by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group's behavior when they took over the scenic Swat Valley where she lived. Two of her classmates were also wounded in the attack and are receiving treatment in Pakistan.

The Taliban have threatened to target Malala again until she is killed because she promotes "Western thinking."

Malala was flown out of Pakistan on Monday morning in a specially equipped air ambulance provided by the United Arab Emirates, said the Pakistani military, which has been treating the young girl at one of its hospitals.

Pakistani police make arrests in schoolgirl shooting

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:06:00 +0000

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani police have arrested a number of suspects in the case of a 14-year-old girl shot and wounded by the Taliban after promoting girls' education and speaking out about Taliban atrocities, a senior police official said Friday.

The shooting of Malala Yousufzai along with two classmates while they were on their way home from school Tuesday horrified people in Pakistan and internationally. The shooting has been followed by an outpouring of respect for a girl who earned the enmity of the Taliban for publicizing their acts and speaking about the importance of girls' education.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying that the girl was promoting "Western thinking."

Providing more details, a Taliban spokesman said the top leadership of the Taliban's Swat Valley chapter decided two months ago to kill Yousufzai in a carefully planned attack after her family ignored repeated warnings.

Police have been questioning people in the town of Mingora, where the shooting took place.

Mingora police chief Afzal Khan Afridi said arrests had been made, but he declined to give any details about the number of people detained or what role they're suspected in having in the shooting. He said he did not want to endanger the ongoing investigation.

Taliban shoot 14-year-old female activist

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:14:00 +0000

A Taliban gunman walked up to a school bus and shot a 14-year-old girl, Malala Yousufzai, in the head and neck and wounded another girl in Pakistan's Swat Valley. It seems that Yousufzai was the Taliban's target: She was an outspoken activist against the Taliban, penning a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC about life under their rule, and she had spoken out in support of women's education. The AP reports:

In her BBC blog, Malala wrote about not wearing her uniform to school after officials warned it might attract the Taliban's attention, and how many other students moved out of the valley after the Taliban issued an edict banning girls from school. She wrote about how the Taliban movement had kept her family from going out after sunset.

While chairing a children's assembly supported by UNICEF in the valley last year, the then-13-year-old championed a greater role for young people.

"Girl members play an active role," she said, according to an article on the U.N. organization's website. "We have highlighted important issues concerning children, especially promoting girls' education in Swat."