Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has survived an attack on his long march convoy which was passing through the eastern city of Wazirabad in Punjab.
He was injured in the leg and four other people were also hurt when a burst of gunfire hit their container. There were reports one person had been killed in the attack.
Khan, 70, was leading the march, which was meant to end in Islamabad. The protest march had been called to demand early elections.
Party official Asad Umar says Khan was wounded in the leg and was not seriously hurt.
“It was a clear assassination attempt,” Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told Reuters.
“It was a well-planned assassination attempt on Imran Khan, the assassin planned to kill Imran Khan and leadership of PTI, it was not 9 MM it was burst from automatic weapon, no two opinions about that it was narrow escape” Fawad Chaudhry said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the violence “in the strongest words” and sent his prayers for Khan’s recovery.
Khan stable and conscious: Doctors
Khan is in stable condition and conscious after being shot in the leg, the head of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital says.
Faisal Sultan said there were bullet fragments in the PTI leader’s leg and his tibia bone was chipped. “This is only the initial assessment, and we are taking him to the operation theatre for detailed evaluation,” he said.
Sultan added that a four-member medical board has been formed to monitor and evaluate Khan’s health.
Suspect detained
Police said they detained a man suspected of firing shots. The suspect was arrested with a 9mm pistol and two empty magazines, police said.
Video showed the suspected shooter with a handgun being grabbed from behind by one of the people at the rally before he tried to flee.
The gunman said he wanted to kill Khan and had acted alone. “He [Khan] was misleading the people, and I couldn’t bear it,” the suspect said in the video. The information minister confirmed police recorded the footage.
However, the suspect’s confession statement was questioned by citizens.
Hero praised
PTI leaders and social media users praised the hero who jumped in to stop the assassination attempt on Imran Khan and saved many lives.
“The news we dread … Thank God he’s okay,” wrote Khan’s first wife Jemima Goldsmith. “And thank you from his sons to the heroic man in the crowd who tackled the gunman.”
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