By BosNewsLife Asia Service
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)– Pakistani doctors on Wednesday, October 10, successfully removed a bullet from the neck of a 14-year-old girl who shot in assassination attempt by the Taliban for speaking out against the militant group and her advocacy on behalf of girls and women.
Officials said Malala Yousufzai was in stable but critical condition after gunmen shot her in the head and neck Tuesday, October 9, on her way home from school in the country’s notorious Swat Valley. Two other girls were wounded in the attack.
Army and civilian surgeons treated Malala in a military hospital in Peshawar city where she was airlifted after the shooting in her hometown of Mingora.
Malala is admired across Pakistan for exposing the Taliban’s atrocities, including against Christians, and advocating for girls’ education at a time of rising religious extremism.
When she was 11 years old, Malala began writing a website blog for the British Broadcasting Corporation about life under the Taliban, and began speaking out publicly in 2009 about the need for girls’ education.
SCHOOL BUS ATTACKED
On Tuesday, October 9, a Taliban gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school and shot her in the head and neck, witnesses said.
The Taliban began infiltrating Swat Valley in 2007, and eventually achieved near-total control of the region before a massive military operation with Pakistani government forces pushed the Taliban out.
On Wednesday, October 10, the head of Pakistan’s military, General Ashfaq Kayani, visited Yousufzai’s hospital and condemned her attackers. He vowed to fight on against militants, news reports said. Authorities offered some $100,000 for information that lead to arrests in the case.
Pakistani political and religious leaders also condemned the attack, as did Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. officials, the Voice of America (VOA) network reported.
In a statement, the Taliban defended the attack. A Taliban spokesman said Yousufzai was “pro-West” ans she denounced the militant group and called U.S. President Barack Obama “her idol”.
