Pakistan's interior minister Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's interior minister Ahsan Iqbal has been shot in the arm in a suspected assassination attempt ahead of nationwide elections due this year, but will survive, his aide and officials said yesterday. The suspect, who police said was named "Abid" and is believed to be in his early 20s, shot Iqbal at close range with a 30-bore pistol, hitting him in his right arm as he was preparing to leave a public meeting in Punjab province, senior police official Raja Riffat Mukhtar said. "The attacker was about to fire a second shot when police and people in the meeting overpowered him," said Malik Ahmed Khan, a spokesman for the Punjab government, adding that Iqbal was undergoing surgery and confirming his life was not in danger. - AFP