14 Oct 2012

Prayers for Pakistani girl shot by Taliban

9:40 am on 14 October 2012

Millions of school children in Afghanistan held special prayers on Saturday for the recovery of a Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen on Tuesday.

Malala Yousufzai, 14, was transferred to a military hospital in Rawalpindi on Thursday. She wrote an on-line diary about life under the Taliban in the Swat valley.

At a school in Kabul, education ministry spokesman Amanullah Iman told AFP that Malala's attackers were enemies of education in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On Friday, prayers for her recovery were held across Pakistan, where the attack has caused widespread outrage.

The BBC reports a reward of 10 million rupees ($US105,000) is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the gunmen.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visited Malala in hospital on Friday. She is still unconscious and on a ventilator.

Two friends of Malala were wounded in the shooting on a school bus and Mr Ashraf paid tribute to the trio.

''It was ... an attack on our national and social values," he said.