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 (© Stringer/Newscom/Reuters)

Teen activist for peace, girls' rights shot by Taliban in Pakistan

10/9/2012

A Pakistani girl famous for speaking out against the Taliban was shot and seriously wounded today on her way home from school. At 14 years old, Malala Yousufzai is already a national figure, the recipient of Pakistan’s National Peace Award and nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize for her blog for the BBC about life under the Taliban. She’s racked up numerous threats for supporting girls’ right to education. Gunmen reportedly came to her school and asked for her by name, then shot her in the head and neck after she left her class. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the shooting, and Yousufzai is reported to be in critical condition at a military hospital in her hometown of Mingora in the Swat Valley. [Source]

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