ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was shot in the leg on Thursday (Nov 3) when his anti-government protest convoy came under attack in the eastern city of Wazirabad in what his aides said was a clear assassination attempt.
Several others in the convoy were wounded and the information minister said a suspect had been arrested. One party member said there were reports one person had been killed.
"It was a clear assassination attempt. Khan was hit but he’s stable. There was a lot of bleeding," Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesperson for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told Reuters.
"If the shooter had not been stopped by people there, the entire PTI leadership would have been wiped out."
A man suspected of attacking Khan has been shot dead, Raoof Hasan, a senior Khan aide told AFP.
"A second man was taken into police custody," he said, adding that it was unclear who shot the first attacker.
According to AP, the identity of the gunman who was arrested at the scene was not immediately known and no group has claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Khan, 70, was travelling in a large convoy of trucks and cars heading towards Islamabad as part of a protest march aimed at forcing the government to hold early elections.
There were hundreds of people in the convoy.
"A man opened fire with an automatic weapon. Several people are wounded. Imran Khan is also injured," party official Asad Umar told Reuters.
Local media showed pictures of Khan waving to the crowd after being evacuated from his vehicle following the shooting.
He was taken to hospital in Lahore after the attack in Wazirabad, nearly 200km from the capital, Islamabad.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/imran-khan-shots-fired-near-convoy-former-pakistan-pm-3041271