Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen who was shot in the head and neck by Taliban militants last October, left the UK hospital where she had been receiving treatment since the attack. She is now staying with her parents and two brothers at their temporary home in West Midlands. The teen will continue therapy and is set to undergo cranial reconstruction surgery within the next month or two.
"Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery. Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers,” said Dr Dave Rosser, the medical director of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. "She will return to the hospital as an outpatient and our therapies team will continue to work with her at home to supervise her care."
Yousafzai arrived at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on October 15. She was flown from a military hospital in Rawalpindi in a specially equipped plane provided by the United Arab Emirates.
The 14-year-old was attacked by gunmen on October 8 as she was returning home from school in Swat Valley. The men stopped her school bus and opened fire after demanding to know which girl was Yousafzai. Two other girls were wounded, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the teen was targeted because she promoted education for women. “She wanted to make our women leave their homes for secular education, something the Taliban will never permit," said Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan. “This was a new chapter of obscenity, and we have to finish this chapter. We have carried out this attack."
Yousafzai, who previously won Pakistan’s National Peace Prize, kept an online diary about her activism.
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