Former Pakistan prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan was on Thursday injured after a gunman opened fire at his campaign truck during his Long March rally in Wazirabad, Punjab Province.
Khan reportedly suffered injuries in his leg but was said to be out of any immediate danger. Local reports said Khan and some leaders of his party, including Faisal Javed Khan, were among those injured.
“A man opened fire with an automatic weapon. Several people are wounded. Imran Khan is also injured,” Khan’s aide Asad Umar was quoted by Reuters. Khan was rushed to a local hospital and later taken to Lahore.
According to some reports, the attack was an “assassination attempt” on Khan, and the gunman was arrested later. In a tweet, Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi called it “a heinous assassination attempt”. “I thank Allah that he is safe but injured with few bullets in his leg & hopefully non-critical,” he tweeted.
The alleged shooter said on camera that he wanted to kill Khan. “Sirf Imran Khan ko maarna tha (I came only to kill Imran Khan)… ” the (as yet unidentified) man said, adding that he had driven up the site of the rally on a motorcycle that he left at a family member’s home.
PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry called it a “clear assassination attempt”. “Khan was hit but he’s stable. There was a lot of bleeding,” he told Reuters. “If the shooter had not been stopped by people there, the entire PTI leadership would have been wiped out.”
Khan, leading the march since Friday, is campaigning for snap elections after being ousted from office in April. A bullet reportedly landed on his shin, Chaudhry said.
