Shot Pakistani schoolgirl Malala visited by family

LONDON (AFP) - The family of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taleban, have visited her in hospital after arriving in Britain, a spokesman said today.

The 15-year-old's mother, father and two brothers arrived in the city of Birmingham in central England yesterday and went straight to see her at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. "Her mum, dad and her two brothers are here in the UK," a spokesman for the hospital told AFP. "They visited last night."

After flying into Britain's second city, they were given a police escort through Birmingham to the hospital.

In an attack which outraged the world, Malala was shot on a school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of Pakistan's Swat valley on October 9 as a punishment for campaigning for the right of girls to an education.