KARACHI, Pakistan — The Taliban is threatening to kill a 14-year-old Pakistani girl whom it shot for helping other girls go to school — if she survives a wounding that has made her a hero to many Pakistanis.
Schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head and neck, was airlifted Oct. 11 to a military hospital for her own protection after the attack that also injured two of her friends. A hospital spokesman described her condition as “satisfactory” Oct. 12.
Pakistanis in government and media have expressed outrage over the shooting that happened Oct. 9 as the girls were boarding a school bus for home. Yousafzai was targeted for speaking out about girls’ education in Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan.
The Taliban admitted to the shooting, and authorities have offered a reward of $100,000 for the capture of the assailant. The Taliban says it is not done with Yousafzai, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, and has threatened her family and vowed to kill her. In 2009 Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym about living under Taliban rule for the British Broadcasting Cooperation in the Urdu language — winning a national peace prize for her efforts.
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