Attaullah, Mullah Radio hatched Malala attack plot in Afghanistan

The plot to attack 15-year-old Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousufzai was hatched in Afghanistan's Kunar province during a meeting between Attaullah Khan, the prime suspect and Pakistani Taliban commander Mullah Fazlullah aka Mullah Radio, security officials said.

According to the officials, the attack involved a larger group of 12 people, out of whom six have been arrested so far, reports The Express Tribune. The main suspects, however, are still at large.

Officials said they are on the trail of Khan, 23, who is a resident of Swat. They added that Khan is pursuing a master's degree in chemistry in Peshawar. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Jahanzeb College in Swat.

The police have also arrested Khan's mother, brother and fiancée. They have not been accused of involvement in the attack but may provide clues to Khan's whereabouts, a senior official added.

Malala, who earned international fame for raising voice against Taliban oppression in Swat, was shot in the neck and head and two other girls sustained injuries when the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) opened fire on their school van in Swat valley on October 9.

A National Peace award winner, Malala became the voice of all the girls in Swat when she began maintaining a diary on the website of the BBC under the pen name of "Gul Makai", describing the atrocities of the Taliban.

Malala is now recuperating in a hospital in Birmingham, UK.