Fact Check: Imran injured by bullet fragments, not bullets

KARACHI: After a gun attack on former prime minister Imran Khan, social media and Pakistani politicians have been divided over the number of bullets that hit Khan. While some reports put the number of bullets at four bullets wounding the chairman of PTI, others suggest only two bullets were lodged in his legs. Khan’s medical report now confirms that four bullet fragments pierced his leg.

Claim

Contradictory statements were issued by Imran Khan himself, and politicians from his political party, after Khan survived a shooting at a political rally in Wazirabad on November 3, leading to social media users asking exactly how Khan was injured.

“Khan after receiving four bullets on his legs, the fighter, the survivor,” wrote one Twitter user. The video he posted received over 19,000 views.While some Twitter accounts questioned if four bullets had indeed hit the politician.“Totally confused,” wrote another Twitter user, “Was Imran Khan hit by two bullets later some reporters said three, then recently Imran Khan said four.” Statements by Imran Khan himself further added to the confusion.

On November 4, Khan issued a video statement from the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in Lahore, in which he said: “These injuries are caused by four bullets that hit me.” But a few days later, on November 7, Khan told CNN that the doctors “took out three bullets.” The senior leaders of Khan’s PTI claim that two gunshots wounded the former prime minister.

Fact

Geo Fact Check has seen the medical report, computerised tomography (CT) scan and the X-ray of Imran Khan prepared by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, where the former prime minister was treated after the attack. Geo Fact Check also spoke to doctors and the management at the hospital. The medical report confirms that “four bullet fragments” were found in Khan’s right leg.

Two were lodged above the knee and two below the knee. One bullet fragment measuring 1.8 x 1.1 cm hit the “right leg posterior cortex of the middle tibial shaft” and fractured it. All four bullet fragments were removed in a surgery and a plaster placed on the right leg for healing, the report adds.

On the left leg, five to six metal pieces were found around the knee. “The fragments from the left side were not removed as they did not pose any threat to the body and there was no fracture on the left side,” the report stated. It further notes that there was minimal loss of blood, thus there was no need to give the former prime minister any blood.

Doctors and management at the Shaukat Khanum Hospital separately confirmed to Geo Fact Check that the bullets hit a metal and fragmented before wounding Khan. They asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the case. Furthermore, the press release by the Hospital also repeatedly refers to “bullet fragments” and not bullet pellets. Khan has since returned to his residence, where he is recovering from his injuries.