Pakistan’s Malala is awake, talking after difficult cranial surgery (VIDEO)
In this handout photo provided by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Malala Yousafzai sits with her father Ziauddin and her two younger brothers, Atal Khan, right, and Khushal Khan on October 26, 2012 in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen shot in the head by Taliban, is awake and talking following two successful surgeries to repair her skull and help her hearing.
"Both operations were a success and Malala is now recovering in hospital. Her medical team are 'very pleased' with the progress she has made so far," the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham said in a statement to CNN. "She is awake and talking to staff and members of her family."
Doctors last week said that a titanium plate would be implanted in the teenagers head to repair an opening in her skull. Malala has been treated as an outpatient at the British hospital since being discharged in January.
She was flown to the UK for treatment after being shot in the head by Taliban fighters in October 2012 while waking home from school in northwest Pakistan.
The Taliban said they targeted the teen because she was outspoken about girls' education and promoted "Western thinking".
Malala has been recovering well from her ordeal so far. Doctors told Al Jazeera that she is able to stand and write and is showing minimal signs of brain damage.
Malala and her family are expected to remain in the UK for some time after her father was appointed education attache at the Consulate of Pakistan for the next three years, reports the BBC.
Watch her first interview here:
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