Teenager shot by terrorist in school massacre that left 150 dead wins place at Oxford University

A teenager who was shot by a Taliban gunman during a terrorist attack that left 150 children and teachers dead at his school in Pakistan has won a place at the University of Oxford.

Ahmad Nawaz was just 14 when fundamentalists carried out the massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar.

His younger brother was killed in the atrocity, while he himself only survived by pretending to be dead after being shot in his left arm.

So bad were his injuries, he was airlifted to Birmingham for emergency treatment soon after being rescued from the school.

Now, after remaining here with his family ever since, he has achieved the school grades that have enabled him to take a place at Oxford to study philosophy and theology.

Nawaz, now aged 19, said: "When the terrorists came to attack children in school they wanted to stop people being educated.

"The fact I've got into one of the best universities in the world sends them the message that they can't do those kind of atrocities and stop us from reaching new places."

He will be following in the footsteps of Malala Yousafzai, who recently completed her philosophy, politics and economics degree at the same university.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman at the age of 15 after campaigning for girls to be educated in her native Pakistan.

Nawaz has been accepted at Lady Margaret Hall – the same college Malala, now 23, just graduated from.

Speaking about the attack, Nawaz told The Times he was with hundreds of other pupils gathered in the school's hall for an assembly on first aid.

He said the gunmen were shooting people "one by one" and were working their way down the rows of students towards him.

"I was lying on the floor face down and as I looked up (I saw) he had shot my friend and I realised it was my turn," Nawaz said.

"He held the gun half a metre away from me and pointed it at my head, but at the moment he was going to shoot I flinched to my right and I got shot in my upper arm."

He said the gunman moved on to the next person and started shooting.

Nawaz, who now lives in Birmingham, said: "Survival instinct kicking in, I thought if I did make a movement or a noise I was going to die."

He was later rescued from the school, but lost consciousness by the time he arrived at hospital having lost so much blood.

He had six operations on his arm at a hospital in Peshawar before being transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to save it from amputation.

Since then, while living in the UK, he has gone on to receive various humanitarian awards for speaking out against youth radicalisation and promoting the right to an education for all children.

The Independent