Imran Khan, the former Pakistani prime minister, has reportedly been injured in a shooting attack during a march on the capital Islamabad with his supporters.
It was learnt that Khan was injured in the leg while at least three other people were also injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on the vehicle carrying him as it passed through Wazirabad, about 110 miles south-east of Islamabad, local media said.
Sky News reports that its producer was standing close to Mr Khan soon after the injured politician emerged from his container truck after the shooting.
However, Mr Khan was taken away from the scene and his supporters said he survived the assassination attempt.
His spokesman and party officials confirmed the former leader is in stable condition.
“He is stable. The bullet hit his leg. He is being shifted to a hospital in Lahore,” Asad Umar, former finance minister and Khan’s party leader, told a TV channel.
Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party called the attack an “assassination attempt”, adding that PTI leader Faisal Javed had also been injured.
The PTI’s Imran Ismail has said Mr Khan was shot in the leg “three to four” times by an attacker wielding an AK-47.
He told Pakistan’s Bol TV that he was standing next to the former Pakistani leader when the attack occurred.
A PTI spokesman said Mr Khan was “safe” and that a suspect has been arrested.
Pakistani news channels broadcast a video appearing to show Mr Khan being carried through a crowd by attendants, with a bandage wrapped around his leg.
Farrukh Habib, of Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said: “Imran Khan is injured, may Allah protect him, the whole nation should pray for the life of Imran Khan.”
Since last Friday, Mr Khan has been leading a march from the city of Lahore towards Islamabad, calling for fresh elections after he was ousted from office this spring.
Every day during his so-called “long march”, 70-year-old Mr Khan has mounted a shipping container towed by a lorry, making speeches from the open top to crowds of thousands in cities and towns along the way.
Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani Prime Minister, “severely condemned” the attack on his political rival, the Pakistani government said on Twitter.
