Malala discharged from hospital

Cranial reconstruction surgery to be carried out in late January or early February.

LONDON: Schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, has been discharged from the British hospital treating her, a hospital spokeswoman said on Friday.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, said 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai would continue her rehabilitation at her family's temporary English home before undergoing major reconstructive surgery in a few weeks.

Malala, was brought to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on October 15 after Taliban gunmen shot her in the head as she travelled on a school bus in Swat.

Earlier, the Pakistani government had said that she would undergo skull surgery within weeks at the British hospital where she is recovering from her injuries.

Her cranial reconstruction surgery will be carried out in late January or early February "as part of her long-term recovery", said a statement released by the Pakistani High Commission in London.

Dave Rosser, medical director at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said Malala had "continued to make great progress in her treatment", according to the statement.

It emerged on Wednesday that Malala's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, would become Pakistan's education attache at its consulate in Birmingham.

Yousafzai will initially undertake the role for three years, but could get a two-year extension as his daughter continues her recovery, the Pakistani government said.

Malala first rose to prominence aged just 11 with a blog for the BBC Urdu service in 2009 in which she described life in Swat during the bloody rule of the Taliban.

Her calls for improved education for girls attracted the attention of the Taliban, ultimately leading to the attempt on her life.