SWAT: The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which attacked National Award Peace winner Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday have said that they will target her again if she survives because she was a “secular-minded lady”.



A TTP spokesperson told The Express Tribune that this was a warning for all youngsters who were involved in similar activites and added that they will be targeted if they do not stop.



Malala was injured along with two other women when Taliban gunmen opened fire on a bus in Swat.



Yousufzai, who studies at Khushal Public School, was on her way home when the vehicle came under attack on Haji Baba Road. One of the other injured has been identified as Shazia and sources say the third was a teacher.



Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said his group was behind the shooting.



"She was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol," Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location.



"She was young but she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas," he said, referring the main ethnic group in northwest Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan.



DPO Swat Rasool Shah said that a search operation has been initiated in the area and a number of suspects have been arrested.



Malala was shifted to Saidu Sharif Medical Complex in Mingora immediately after the incident and later she was moved to Peshawar in an Army helicopter.



Doctors at the Saidu Sharif Medical Complex said that Malala was out of danger after the bullet penetrated her skull but missed her brain.



“A bullet struck her head, but the brain is safe,” said Dr Taj Mohammed.



“She is out of danger,” he added.



Dr Laal Noor, from the same hospital, confirmed that the bullet broke her skull but missed her brain.



“The bullet struck her skull and came out on the other side and hit her shoulder,” he told AFP.



After getting done with Malala's check-up, the doctors said that she might be sent abroad for treatment.



As the news made rounds, hundreds of people flocked outside the hospital, willing to donate blood to Malala.



Two bullets hit Malala -- one in the head and another between the neck and chest.



Malala's friend, Shazia, while narrating the incident to Express News said, "When we were coming back from school, unidenfitied men approached our bus and asked us to identify Malala, when we told him, he opened fire."



The Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has taken a notice of the incident.



Hailing from Mingora, the 14-year-old Malala struggled for restoring peace in Swat and education for girls in the region for which she was awarded the National Peace Award by former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.



When the Taliban had banned education for females in the district, she kept a diary for the British Broadcasting Corporation and wrote about the misdeeds of militants.



Yousufzai also remained a speaker for the Child Assembly in Swat, which works for child rights in the district. Later on, she was awarded the first National Peace Award by the government of Pakistan on December 19, 2011 for rendering courageous services to promote peace during the mayhem.