A Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban has made her first video statement since she was nearly killed, saying she is recovering. Speaking clearly but with a slight stiffness in her upper lip, 15-year-old Malala Yousefzai said that she was “getting better, day by day.”
The video statement was published Monday, just hours after Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital said they had successfully operated to reconstruct her skull and restore her hearing. The teenager drew the world’s attention when she was shot by Taliban militants on Oct. 9 on a school bus in northwestern Pakistan.
The Islamist group said they targeted her because she promoted girls’ education and “Western thinking” and criticized the militant group’s behavior when it took over the scenic Swat Valley where she lived.