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May 6 (UPI) -- Pakistani Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was described as being "out of danger" after being wounded by an unidentified attacker at an election rally Sunday in central Punjab province, according to officials. Iqbal, 59, after addressing the crowd in his native Narowal district, was shot in the shoulder, Federal Minister Talal Chaudhry {link:told local TV station Geo News.
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He was getting into his vehicle to leave the rally when a "young man" fired at him "several times," Jam Sajjad Hussain, a rescue services spokesperson, told Al Jazeera.
"One bullet hit him in the left shoulder," Hussain added. "He was transferred to the local district hospital, where he is being treated."
"He is conscious and out of danger," Ahmad Iqbal told Geo News about father, who became interior minister last year. He is also the head of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms.
Imran Kishwar, the Narowal district police, said in an CNN report the "assailant has been apprehended."
Pakistani Prime Shahid Khaqan Abbasi called for an immediate report into the incident from Punjab's inspector general of police.
Iqbal's ruling Pakistan Muslim League party's five-year tenure ends later this month and a general parliamentary election is scheduled for July.
Punjab Gov. Shehbaz Sharif posted on Twitter "those who indulged in this heinous act will be brought to justice ... PMLN will not be browbeaten into submission."
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