Taliban gunmen shot schoolgirl peace activist Malala Yousafzai in the head as she rode to school on her bus. The Taliban said it shot the schoolgirl for advocating girls’ rights.
Hospital staff assist Malala Yousufzai, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who was wounded in a gun attack, at Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital in the Swat Valley region in northwest Pakistan October 9, 2012. According to authorities, gunmen in Pakistan shot and seriously wounded Yousufzai on Tuesday for speaking out against Taliban militants. (Reuters)
Malala Yousufzai was injured severely in the attack.
- reported, via Orbusmax:
Taliban gunmen in Pakistan shot and seriously wounded on Tuesday a 14-year-old schoolgirl who rose to fame for speaking out against the militants, authorities said.
Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head and neck when gunmen fired on her school bus in the Swat valley, northwest of the capital, Islamabad. Two other girls were also wounded, police said.
Yousufzai became famous for speaking out against the Pakistani Taliban at a time when even the government seemed to be appeasing the hardline Islamists.
The government agreed to a ceasefire with the Taliban in Swat in early 2009, effectively recognizing insurgent control of the valley whose lakes and mountains had long been a tourist attraction.
The Taliban set up courts, executed residents and closed girls’ schools, including the one that Yousufzai attended. A documentary team filmed her weeping as she explained her ambition to be a doctor.
“My friend came to me and said, ‘for God’s sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taliban?’,” Yousufzai, then 11, wrote in a blog published by the BBC.
“During the morning assembly we were told not to wear colorful clothes as the Taliban would object.”
The army launched an offensive and retook control of Swat later that year, and Yousufzai later received the country’s highest civilian award. She was also nominated for international awards for child activists.
Here is video of the young girls in the hospital after the Taliban attack.
Where is Code Pink? Where are the liberal women activists? Where are the people to speak out against this murderous crime?