Imran Khan is shot in the foot in assassination attempt after ‘multiple gunmen’ open fire on convoy

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been shot in the foot in an assassination attempt at a rally but is in a stable condition. 

A gunman opened fire at Khan’s convoy as he was leading a protest march on Islamabad to demand snap elections, with one bullet striking the former PM in the foot.

Video shows Khan, 70, wearing a bandage on his foot, waving to supporters after getting shot before he was helped down from an open top container truck and placed carefully into a vehicle.

The politician was rushed to hospital, with local media reporting that he is out of danger. Some of Khan’s supporters were also injured in the attack. 

Footage from the scene also appears to shows a suspected gunman shooting towards Khan’s convoy. A second man is seen trying to wrestle the gun from the shooter, but he manages to escape.

‘This was an attempt to kill Khan, to assassinate him,’ his senior aide, Raoof Hasan, said, adding that one alleged attacker had been shot dead and a second taken into police custody.

Khan, who was married to British screenwriter Jemima Goldsmith for nine years before their divorce, had been speaking at the rally when he was shot by the gunman.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been shot in the foot in an assassination attempt at a rally. He is seen here waving to fans after being shot 

Footage from the scene also appears to show the gunman shooting towards Khan’s convoy. A second man (right) is seen trying to wrestle the gun from the shooter, but he manages to escape

Video shows Khan, 70, wearing a bandage on his foot, waving to supporters after getting shot before he was helped down from an open top container truck and placed carefully into a vehicle (pictured)

Khan, who was married to British screenwriter Jemima Goldsmith (pictured together in London in 2000) for nine years before their divorce, had been speaking at the rally when he was shot by the gunman

An unspecified number of supporters from Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party who were part of the march were also wounded after the gunman opened fire in district in the Wazirabad eastern Punjab province.

Video shows Senator Faisal Javed Khan sat in a hospital chair, with blood splattered over his white shirt.

Khan and his supporters had been travelling in a large convoy of trucks and cars heading towards the capital, Islamabad, as part of his campaign aimed at forcing the government to hold early elections after he was ousted from office this spring. 

The attack happened less than a week after Khan began his march from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, along with thousands of supporters. 

Each day during his so-called ‘long march’ 70 year-old 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. 

Since his ouster in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April, Khan has alleged that his ouster was a conspiracy engineered by his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and the United States – claims that both the new premier and Washington have denied.

Footage from the scene also appears to shows a suspected gunman (left in circle wearing a black top) shooting towards Khan’s convoy. A second man (in a blue and red top in cicle) is seen trying to wrestle the gun from the shooter, but he manages to escape.

The shooter manages to escape but a huge crowd chase him down the street 

Pakistan ‘s former Prime Minister Imran Khan (pictured yesterday at a different rally) has been shot in the foot in an assassination attempt at a rally

Still, Khan – a former cricket star and national sports hero turned Islamist politician – remains a hugely popular figure and his convoy’s journey, expected to be capped with an open-ended rally in Islamabad, could present a significant challenge to the new administration. 

The rally could potentially also turn violent if police move in to disperse Khan’s supporters.

Khan has also been a vocal critic of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment for supporting the current Sharif. 

‘We are not sheep, we are human beings and no one is going to accept neither the imported thieves of this government nor their facilitators,’ Khan lashed out during a speech Saturday. 

Khan has promised his march will remain peaceful and aimed at forcing Sharif to call early elections – but his attempted assassination attempt shows just how divided the nation is. 

The prime minster has repeatedly declined this call for early elections, saying parliamentary elections will take place as scheduled in 2023.

Khan’s latest challenge to the government comes after Pakistan’s elections commission disqualified him from holding public office for five years for allegedly selling state gifts unlawfully and concealing assets as premier.

Khan, who has challenged the disqualification in a pending court case, has said he would sue Chief Election Commissioner Sikandara Raja, who was behind the decision, for calling him a “dishonest person.”

It was also not immediately known if Khan’s convoy would proceed on to Islamabad. Earlier, Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader in Khan’s party, said they plan to enter Islamabad on Friday.