Clerics Issue Fatwa Against Shooters of Pakistan Teen

Authorities offering $100,000 for their capture

A group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan have issued a fatwa against the Taliban gunmen who tried to kill a 14-year-old girl, famous for campaigning for the right of young females to an education.

The Islamic scholars from the Sunni Ittehad Council publicly denounced attempts by the Pakistani Taliban to mount religious justifications for the shooting of Malala Yousafzai and two of her classmates as they sat inside a school bus on Tuesday.

A Taliban spokesman issued a statement on Wednesday claiming it was obligatory to kill anyone "leading a campaign" against Islamic law. The movement has also said they would attempt to kill Yousafzai again if she recovers from her injuries.

Hamid Saeed Kazmi, a former religious affairs minister, replied that Islam "holds the killing of one innocent person as killing the entirety of humanity".