Former Pakistan prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan was in stable condition after being shot in the leg at a political rally on Thursday.
Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi deemed it “a heinous assassination attempt”.
Khan, who led Pakistan to 1992 World Cup glory, has been leading a chaotic convoy of thousands since Friday from the city of Lahore towards the capital, Islamabad, campaigning for fresh elections after being ousted from office in April.
“This was an attempt to kill him, to assassinate him,” senior aide Raoof Hasan told AFP.
Khan was wounded when shots were fired at him and other officials standing on the top of a modified container truck as it slowly drove through a thick crowd near Gujranwala.
“There was a guy who was in front of the container who had this automatic pistol. He fired a burst. Everyone who was standing in the very front row got hit,” former information minister Fawad Chaudhry, who was standing behind Khan, told AFP.
I remember the dark,depressing days n time after the assassination of Shaheed mohtarma BeNazir Bhutto. God forbid had anything fatal happened to @ImranKhanPTI no one can imagine what would erupt. If this is his spirit after being shot 3-4 times in the leg we do need to #ImranKhan pic.twitter.com/6hq050rN5S
— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) November 3, 2022
He said supporters in the crowd tried to snatch the gun from the attacker.
“In that scuffle he missed the target. There was so much blood on the container.”
Six people on the container were hit and one supporter killed, he said.
There was no immediate comment from police.
Officials from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said Khan was being treated at a hospital in Lahore and was in stable condition.
Video published on social media shows Khan in hospital with a bandage around his right calf.
© Agence France-Presse
