Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani girl activst shot by Taliban, airlifted to Britain

The Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban last week for advocating girls’ education has been flown to Britain for emergency specialist care, the Pakistani military said on Monday.

Malala Yousafzai supplied by Pakistani officials

Malala Yousafzai, age 14, left an air base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where she was being treated for head wounds in a military hospital, on an air ambulance sent from the United Arab Emirates.

In a statement, the military said she would receive immediate treatment for her skull, which was fractured after a bullet passed through her head, as well as “long-term rehabilitation including intensive neuro rehabilitation.”

Yousafzai will be at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, a center which specializes in treating trauma victims, troops injured in combat areas like Afghanistan, Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said in a statement quoted by The Associated Press.

Pakistan officials said it would pay for her treatment.

A Pakistani military intensive care specialist accompanied her on the flight, which by midmorning Monday had stopped in the United Arab Emirates for refueling en route to Britain.

The daughter of a schoolmaster, the teen had become known for her eloquent and impassioned advocacy of education and children’s rights in the face of Taliban threats, which made her a potent symbol of resistance to the militants’ extremist ideology.