Pakistani Police have arrested four people in connection with the attack on 14-year-old children's rights activist Malala Yousafzai, reports said.
Police reportedly released on bail dozens of people who were taken into custody this week on suspicion of their involvement in the attack.
On Friday, prayers were held in schools and mosques across the country for the recovery of Malala, who was shot on her head by Taliban gunmen in the north-western Swat Valley on Tuesday.
The eighth-grade student was returning home in school van from her school in Mingora, the region's main town, when the gunmen opened fire at her. She and two of her schoolmates were injured in the firing.
She was was transferred from an intensive care unit in Peshawar to a military hospital in Rawalpindi on Thursday. Military spokesman Maj Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa told reporters that Malala's condition is satisfactory, adding that her progress over the next few days will be "critical".
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack on Malala, who was well known for advocating the education of girls and highlighting Taliban atrocities, and then threatened to kill any others, including women and children, who hold views the group does not agree with.
Meanwhile, a group of United Nations independent experts on human rights urged the Pakistan Government to make every effort to ensure that school children, and particularly girls, are protected throughout the country, and to ensure that extremist groups do not restrict the ability of ordinary Pakistanis to realize their human rights.
"Attempting to assassinate a 14-year-old girl who has the courage to speak out and claim the legitimate right of a generation of girls to receive an education is a shocking attack on human rights defenders in Pakistan," said the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya.
"The Government has to make every effort possible to protect Malala and others who work towards increasing respect for women's and girls' rights," she added in a news release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back, in an unpaid capacity, on specific human rights themes.
The Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, underscored the need to ensure a prompt and thorough investigation into the attack, as well as provide Malala, and others threatened by extremists, with swift and effective protection.
"We believe it is crucial that the Government of Pakistan take measures to ensure that its citizens, throughout the country, are able to express their views without fear of intimidation," added the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue.
The Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, called on the Pak Government to clearly denounce those who committed these acts, and to openly support the right of all children, and particularly girls, to attend school in all parts of Pakistan without fear of attack.
"The right to education includes ensuring that children are able to travel to and attend school without facing the fear of violence," he said.
"The attack on her was abhorrent and cowardly. The terrorists showed what frightens them most: a girl with a book," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at an event on Thursday afternoon in New York to mark the first International Day of the Girl Child.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.