Malala is expected to be hospitalized for "weeks if not months," said David Rosser, executive medical director of University Hospitals Birmingham.

Rosser declined to discuss details of Malala's condition, but said the decision to fly her to the United Kingdom from Pakistan was a sign that her medical team hopes she will pull through.

"They wouldn't be going through all this if there wasn't a good hope of recovery," he said.

When Malala was rushed to a hospital in the northwestern city of Peshawar after she was shot, doctors tried to reduce swelling in her brain and removed the bullet in her neck. She was later transferred to a military hospital in Rawalpindi outside Islamabad.

At Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, she will need to have the damaged bones in her skull repaired or replaced, as well as intensive neurological rehabilitation, the Pakistani military said Monday. Malala's family has been kept up on every step of her treatment, officials say.

"Malala will now receive specialist medical care in an NHS hospital," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague, referring to the country's National Health Service. "Our thoughts remain with Malala and her family at this difficult time."

'I have the right'

Malala spoke to CNN last year about her blog and her brave assertion that girls should go to school.

"I have the right of education," she said. "I have the right to play. I have the right to sing. I have the right to talk. I have the right to go to market. I have the right to speak up."

Her writing earned her Pakistan's first National Peace Prize and encouraged young people to take a stand against the Taliban -- and to not hide in their bedrooms.

But the instability of the region was highlighted late Sunday in an attack by scores of militants on a police outpost that killed six officers, police said.

On her blog, Malala often wrote about her life in Swat Valley, a hotbed of militant activity.

The valley once attracted tourists to Pakistan's only ski resort, as well as visitors to the ancient Buddhist ruins in the area. But that was before militants -- their faces covered -- unleashed a wave of violence in 2003.

They demanded veils for women, beards for men and a ban on music and television. They allowed boys' schools to operate but closed those for girls.