Pakistani schoolgirl shot by Taliban, transported to UK

Malala Yousafzai’s condition remains critical, and will now be treated at a specialist facility.

 

 

A fourteen-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Taliban, has been transferred to the United Kingdom for further treatment.

Ms. Yousafzai, a campaigner for girls’ education who blogged about life under the Taliban, was airlifted aboard to Birmingham where she would be treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

She was attacked last week on her way home from school by gunmen who shot her in the head. The Taliban accuse her of promoting secularism and have warned they will target her again.

A bullet was removed from her skull in her first treatment at a military hospital in Pakistan.

Doctors said her condition remained critical and recommended she be transferred for further attention abroad.

The UK centre is said to be equipped for providing integrated care to children who have sustained severe injury. The hospital has recently opened a major trauma centre specializing in both gunshot wounds and head injuries.

The UK had offered to help in “any ways possible” while the United Arab Emirate provided the air ambulance she was transported in.

Much of the team’s experiences have been with treating UK military casualties and Medical Director, David Rosser said Ms. Yousafzai “could be viewed as a battle casualty”, which put doctors there “in a good position to treat her”, the BBC says.

Her treatment will be paid for by the UAE.

The shooting sparked international condemnation and by the Pakistani authorities, have offered a reward of more than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers.

Ms. Yousafzai won international prominence with a blog that highlighted atrocities under the Taliban who terrorized the Swat Valley from 2007 until a 2009 army offensive.