Pakistan to decide if child activist needs treatment abroad

PAKISTAN: Pakistani doctors were to decide Wednesday whether to fly abroad a 14-year-old child activist in a critical condition after being shot in the head by the Taliban, in a case that has horrified the country.

Malala Yousafzai was shot on her school bus with two friends in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat on Tuesday, then flown to the main northwestern city of Peshawar to be admitted to a military hospital.

Malala spent Tuesday night in intensive care, where doctors at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) described her condition as critical.

A military officer told AFP that a team of top doctors had flown to Peshawar to assess her condition on Wednesday. "They have a two-point agenda -- to determine if Malala Yousafzai's condition allows her to be shifted abroad for treatment or if she needs surgery here," the officer said.

Last night, a doctor at CMH told AFP that the bullet had travelled from her head and then lodged in the back shoulder, near the neck.

AFP