Former Pakistani Prime Minister

Imran Khan

was injured Thursday during a political rally after being shot in the leg.

The former president of the country described the attack, which he had linked near the city of Gujranwala, as a "

hateful assassination attempt

".

Having lost power last spring due to a vote of no confidence,

Khan,

a former cricket champion

, has been leading a "long march" to the capital

Islamabad

since last Friday

to call for

early elections

.

"He was injured in the foot, he is in stable condition," Khan's adviser,

Raoof Hasan

, told AFP .

"This was an attempt to kill him, to assassinate him," he added.

The suspect in the attack was killed and a second man was detained by police, the adviser added.

A video posted on

social media

shows Khan already in hospital in Lahore with a bandage on his right calf.

In a tweet, Pakistani President

Arif Alvi

denounced a "hateful assassination attempt".

"I thank Allah that now he is safe, but wounded by several shots in the leg, and we hope it is not serious," he added.

Faisal Javed, Pakistani Senator and KhanAP contributor

US Secretary of State

Antony Blinken

, for his part, called on "all parties" in Pakistan to "refrain from resorting to violence".

Pakistan has suffered for decades from violent Islamist movements that question the influence of the central power, and the assassinations of politicians have marked the country's history.

DIE FOR YOUR COUNTRY

In 2007,

Benazir Bhutto

, the

first

modern woman to lead a Muslim country, was assassinated in an attack whose masterminds were never identified.

Every day since the start of this march, Khan, 70, has climbed into a container placed on a truck to address the thousands of supporters who have arrived from the cities he passes through.

Despite the

motion of no confidence

, Khan retains broad support among the population.

Since April, upon leaving the head of government, he has organized rallies throughout the country, before thousands of supporters, to put pressure on the fragile coalition in power.

Khan keeps repeating that his fall was the product of a "conspiracy" hatched by the United States, and harshly criticizes the government of his successor, Shehbaz Sharif.

Imran Khan came to power in 2018, after the victory in the legislative elections of the PTI, a populist platform that mixes promises of social reforms, religious conservatism and the fight against corruption.

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