Arrests in the Shooting of a Pakistani Schoolgirl

October 12, 2012

Women hold candles during a rally condemning the attack on schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, Karachi, Pakistan, October 11, 2012.

From VOA Learning English, this is IN THE NEWS in Special English.

Pakistani police have arrested suspects in the shooting of a fourteen year old school girl. Officials say the arrests took place in northwest Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck Tuesday as she left school. The following day, doctors successfully removed a bullet from her neck. She is being treated at the country’s top military hospital. Doctors say she has a seventy percent chance of surviving.

Malala Yousafzai became famous for speaking out against the Taliban. Witnesses say gunmen who came to her school asked for her by name. The gunmen open fired as she was entering a school bus. Two other students also were wounded.

The Taliban says Malala Yousafzai was targeted for what it called her “pro-West” ideology. It says she denounced the Taliban and called President Obama her hero. On Friday a spokesman for the group said Taliban leaders decided a few months ago to kill the school girl, and told gunmen to carry out the attack.

The girl’s uncle, Ahmed Shah Yousafzai, is head of the Swat Valley Peace Council. He told VOA that no one expected that such a fierce attack would be carried out against her.