Malala Yousafzai's 10 attackers sentenced to life in prison by Pakistan terror court

Attackers shot Malala in the head when she was 15

Shot by the Taliban in 2012 for blogging about life under their rule, Yousafzai has become an inspirational campaigner for education for women and girls. She is the youngest person to receive the Nobel Prize, giving her access to political leaders worldwi (Getty Images)

A court in Pakistan has reportedly sentenced 10 Taliban militants accused of plotting the 2012 attack on Malala Yousafzai to life in prison.

According to the Express Tribune in Pakistan, the men from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant group were identified and arrested in September last year.

They were tried by an anti-terrorism court in Swat on suspicion of plotting the attack in which Taliban gunmen entered Malala’s school bus and shot her in the head when she was 15.

The young girl’s response to the attack and her continued campaigning for girls’ right to education saw her receive accolades from all over the world, and last year she received the Nobel Peace Prize in conjunction with the Indian rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.

A security official said none of the four or five men who carried out the attack on Malala was among the 10 men sentenced on Thursday.

"But certainly they had a role in the planning and execution of the assassination attempt on Malala," a police official said.

Police believe the gunman who shot Malala escaped across the border into Afghanistan.

Government official Asim Bajwa told the Express Tribune that the arrested militants had named Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s commander Mullah Fazlullah as the mastermind of the attack.

Malala is now 17 and lives with her family in Birmingham in the UK.