'The Kidnapped Nigeria Girls Are My Sisters' Says Afghan Girl Who Was Shot in Head By the Taliban for Advocating Education for Girls

Malala Yousafzai. (Screen capture from YouTube video)

By Tracy Connor
Hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria have found a powerful ally — Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who survived a Taliban assassination attempt and became a global symbol of girl-power, equal rights and triumph over terror.

"These girls are my sisters," the brave 16-year-old activist told NBC News' Bill Neely on Wednesday in Birmingham, England, where she has been living since being targeted for death in 2012 because of her tireless campaigning.

"And I am feeling very sad."

She offered a message to the abducted Nigerians: "Never lose hope because we are with you."

Yousafzai, a remarkable figure who was a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize and was invited to the White House, called on the world to speak out against the brutal Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, which bragged about abducting more than 200 girls and threatened to sell them.

"We should all stand up together and we should speak," she said.

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