Former Pakistan captain and PM Imran Khan suffers bullet injury while PAK team was winning a game in T20 WC

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Islamabad, Nov 3: At a time when the Pakistan cricket team was nearing home in a must-win game in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 at Sydney Cricket Ground, their former prime minister Imran Khan was injured on Thursday (November 3) when an unidentified gunman opened fire on the container-mounted-truck carrying him during his protest march in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Imran Khan - who guided Pakistan to their maiden Cricket World Cup (in ODIs) title back in 1992 in Australia - was declared out of danger by his party PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf). The media reports claimed that the cricketer-turned-politician was injured when he was leading a protest march.

The incident occurred near Allahwala Chowk in Wazirabad town of Punjab. A Geo TV footage showed that 70-year-old Khan was hit in the right leg. He has been shifted to a hospital and he is out of danger, the channel said.

ARY News, which is considered as a mouthpiece of Khan's party, reported that Khan was out of danger. Asad Umar, the senior leader of Khan's party, told ARY News that a bullet hit Khan's leg. He said six people were injured in the attack and two were apparently seriously wounded, including local leader Ahmad Chatha.

"Khan is being taken to Lahore by road. He is not critical but he received a bullet injury," Umar said, adding that Khan's opponent couldn't see Pakistan being transformed.

He, however, didn't blame anyone for the attack. A gunman fired on the container-mounted truck carrying the former prime minister from a close range, Geo TV reported. It said one person has been arrested from the spot and police took him to an unknown location.

Initially, it was reported that Khan was safe while some people were injured. However, later it turned out that Khan was also injured in the attack. There are also reports that Khan's close aide Senator Faisal Javed was also injured in the attack.

Soon after he came to know about the assassination attempt on Khan, Babar Azam took to his Twitter handle to condemn the attack.

"Strongly condemn this heinous attack on @ImranKhanPTI. May Allah keep Kaptaan safe and protect our beloved Pakistan, Ameen," tweeted Azam.

Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar took to his Twitter handle and expressed his shock over Khan's injury and expressed relief that the latter was safe.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan cricket team kept its semi-final hopes alive with an emphatic 33-run win over South Africa in a rain-affected T20 match. Shadab Khan was awarded the player of the match for his all-round show in the game. The spin-bowling all-rounder picked up a couple of wickets and also scored a quickfire 52 off 22 balls to help Pakistan to post a massive 185 for nine in 20 overs.

(With PTI inputs)