Girl shot by Taliban stable after surgery.

A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education has undergone successful surgery at a British hospital to reconstruct her skull and help restore lost hearing.

A team of doctors carried out a five-hour operation on Saturday on 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in October and brought to Britain for treatment.

The procedures carried out were cranial reconstruction, aimed at mending parts of her skull with a titanium plate, and a cochlear implant designed to restore hearing on her left side, which was damaged in the attack.

“Both operations were a success and Malala is now recovering in hospital,” said a statement yesterday from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she is being treated. The girl’s condition was described as stable and the statement said her medical team was very pleased with the progress she has made. “She is awake and talking to staff and members of her family,” it added…