A gunman in eastern Pakistan opened fire Thursday at a campaign truck carrying former Prime Minister Imran Khan, slightly wounding him in the leg and killing one of his supporters, his party and police said. Nine other people also were hurt.
The gunman was immediately arrested at the protest rally, and police later released a video of him in custody, confessing to the shooting and saying he acted alone. He looked to be in his twenties or thirties.
“Only Imran Khan was my target,” said the suspect, identified as Faisal Butt by Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb.
Khan, 70, underwent surgery at Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore, tweeted Omar Ayub Khan, a senior leader of the ex-premier's Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Khan was seen with a bandage on his right leg, just above the foot, according to reports and a blurry image from the protest.
The shooting was an “assassination attempt,” party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry told rallygoers afterward in Wazirabad. He added that “it was an attack on the whole of Pakistan,” and vowed that the people would avenge it.
