Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was in stable condition after being shot in the leg at a political rally on Thursday in what the country's president deemed "a heinous assassination attempt".
The former international cricket star 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.
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 being in hospital with a bandage around his right calf.
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 said.-AFP
