PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct. 13 (UPI) —
A 14-year-old Pakistani girl noted for her campaign for girls’ education was on a ventilator Saturday after being shot in the head earlier in the week.
Malala Yousufzai was wounded Tuesday as she left her school, Dawn News reported.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the shooting, charging the teen was pro-Western and opposed the Taliban.
A spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardar Saturday asked about the health of two girls identified only as Shazia and Kainat also wounded when a gunman boarded their school bus in Mingora. Zardari said the government would pay for the girls’ medical treatment.
Malala’s condition was described as "satisfactory" in a military update, which said a board of doctors was monitoring her condition, The News International reported.
On Friday, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visited Malala.
"It was not a crime against an individual but a crime against humanity and an attack on our national and social values," he told reporters.
Schools opened Friday with a prayer for Malala, who was known internationally for a blog she wrote for the BBC in which she detailed her attempts to get an education in a region controlled by the Taliban.
A reward of more than $100,000 has been offered by Pakistani authorities for capture of her attackers.
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