ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s interior minister Ahsan Iqbal has been shot in a suspected assassination attempt ahead of nationwide elections due this year, but will survive, officials said Sunday. 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. Iqbal "was targeted", his aide Asim Khan told AFP, confirming that the attacker has been arrested. Punjab health secretary Najam Shah said he had been taken to a hospital in Lahore. Video footage of his arrival released by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz … [Read more...] about Pakistan interior minister shot, wounded in suspected assassination bid