Malala attack suspects arrested

Pakistan's army says it has arrested 10 militants suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who won world acclaim after she was shot by the Taliban in the country's northwest.

Army spokesman Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, said Friday that the detained men attacked Yousafzai, then 16, on orders from Mullah Fazlullah, the head of Pakistani Taliban.

He said the Taliban had tried to kill Malala over her advocacy for gender equality and education for women.

They boarded her school bus in Pakistan's north-western Swat valley and opened fire, in an assault that also wounded two of her school friends.

Malala was shot in the head in October 2012 while returning from school. She was initially treated in Pakistan, but was later flown to a hospital in Britain, where she now lives with her family.

She has since recovered from the attack, which shocked the world and catapulted her to international fame.

She was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in 2013, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and has just released an autobiography.