Malala to receive more surgery

UK: Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, has been temporarily discharged while she awaits surgery, the British hospital treating her said Friday.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, west-central England, said it was delighted with the 15-year-old's progress and that she would stay with her family nearby before undergoing reconstructive surgery on her skull.

"Malala Yousafzai was discharged from Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham as an inpatient yesterday (Thursday) to continue her rehabilitation at her family's temporary home in the West Midlands," the hospital said in a statement.

"The 15-year-old, who was shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, is well enough to be treated by the hospital as an outpatient for the next few weeks."

In an attack that shocked the world, Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban hitman as her school bus made its way through the town of Mingora in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley in October.

The bullet grazed her brain, coming within centimetres of killing her, travelling through her head and neck before lodging in her left shoulder. She was airlifted to the specialist Queen Elizabeth Hospital days after the attack but had to fight off an infection in the path of the bullet and recover her strength before surgery. "She is still due to be readmitted in late January or early February to undergo cranial reconstructive surgery as part of her long-term recovery," the hospital said.

AFP