Taliban attack on teen education activist sparks outrage
Girl shot by Taliban still in critical condition as Obama joins chorus of outrage at attack and US$100,000 reward is offered to find gunmen
A Pakistani child activist shot in the head by the Taliban was airlifted to the country's top military hospital for specialist treatment yesterday, still in a critical condition, officials said.
The shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai on a school bus in the Swat valley has been denounced worldwide and by the Pakistani authorities, who have offered a reward of more than US$100,000 for the capture of her attackers.
Two of her friends were also injured in the attack, carried out as retribution for Malala's campaign for the right to an education during a two-year Taliban insurgency in Swat that the army claimed to have crushed in 2009.
But as she spent a second day in intensive care questions are mounting about how the attack could have happened in the first place and how the perpetrators simply walked away in an area with a police and army presence.
"Now she needs post surgery care. The doctors recommended that AFIC (Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology) has better facilities for post-surgery care," military spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said.
Another official later confirmed she had arrived by helicopter in Rawalpindi, the twin city of the capital Islamabad and the headquarters of the Pakistan army. Bajwa said Malala was unconscious and that the next 24 hours would be crucial.