Pakistani Taliban vows to target teen child rights activist again if she survives

Malala was shot in the neck and head and two other girls sustained injuries when the Taliban opened fire on their school van in Swat. "She was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol. She was young but she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas," Ehsan said, referring to the main ethnic group in northwest Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan . DPO Swat Rasool Shah said that a search operation has been initiated in the area and a number of suspects have been arrested. Malala was shifted to a hospital in Mingora immediately after the incident and was later moved to Peshawar in an Army helicopter. Doctors at the Saidu Sharif Medical Complex said Malala was out of danger. "A bullet struck her head, but the brain is safe. She is out of danger," said Dr Taj Mohammed.

Malala has earned international fame for raising voice against Taliban oppression in Swat. She was honoured with a first ever National Peace by the government and was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by advocacy group Kids Rights Foundation in 2011 for being an inspiration to her friends by standing up against repression as her namesake did in Afghanistan in the 19th century. Malala became the voice of all the girls in Swat when she began maintaining a diary on the website of the BBC under the pen name of "Gul Makai".