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gun attack

Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan’s best known television presenters, has been shot and wounded by gunmen in the city of Karachi.

Police said the attackers opened fire on Hamid Mir’s car near the airport.

The presenter for Geo TV received three bullets, but was in a stable condition, the officials added.

There have been previous attempts on the life of Hamid Mir, the first journalist to interview Osama bin Laden after 9/11.

Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries for the media.

The attack has been strongly condemned by Pakistani politicians, including PM Nawaz Sharif.

Hamid Mir is one of Pakistan's best known television presenters

Hamid Mir is one of Pakistan’s best known television presenters (photo Geo TV)

Last month, Nawaz Sharif pledged to do more to protect journalists in Pakistan.

Hamid Mir had just landed in Karachi and was on his way to the studios of Geo TV, a private Pakistani news channel, when unidentified gunmen in a car and on motorcycles reportedly tailed him before opening fire.

Police said he sustained three gunshot wounds, but that his life was not in danger.

Hamid Mir’s brother, a leading investigative journalist, has accused the country’s intelligence agency, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), of orchestrating the attack.

According to his brother, Hamid Mir had recently told family and colleagues that he had received threats from the ISI because of his political views.

In 2012, the Pakistani Taliban tried to kill Hamid Mir by planting 1lb of explosives under his car outside his home in the capital, Islamabad.

But the remote-controlled bomb failed to go off.

The Taliban had threatened Hamid Mir and other journalists for their coverage of the militants’ shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.

Five journalists were killed in Pakistan in 2013 and more than 50 have died since the early 1990s. Most murders remain unresolved.

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The Paris gunman has been captured and taken into custody on suspicion of carrying out recent attacks on the Liberation office and Societe Generale HQ, prosecutors say.

French police said the man bore a strong resemblance to the person shown in surveillance camera footage.

He was taken into custody at about 19:00 local time from a vehicle in a car park in Bois-Colombes, west of Paris.

The suspect threatened a TV station last Friday, and attacked the Liberation office and Societe Generale HQ on Monday.

He was apprehended from a stationary car in an underground car park.

The Paris gunman was taken into custody from a vehicle in a car park in Bois-Colombes

The Paris gunman was taken into custody from a vehicle in a car park in Bois-Colombes

Prosecutors said the reading of the man’s rights had been postponed and he was not yet in a position to be questioned. They gave no further explanation and have not yet given the man’s identity nor any motive.

Hundreds of police were involved in an intensive manhunt since Monday and security was stepped up at all media outlets.

An appeal for information generated almost 700 calls.

The first incident – last Friday – was at the offices of the BFMTV television channel.

The intruder emptied the chamber of his gun in the reception area without firing, saying: “Next time, I will not miss you.”

CCTV showed that he spent only a few seconds in reception, before hurrying out.

On Monday, the suspect attacked the offices of the Liberation newspaper, firing twice and critically injuring a 23-year-old photography assistant.

Two hours later, the same man fired shots outside the headquarters of the bank Societe Generale, in the western business district of La Defense. No-one was hurt.

A car was then hijacked and the driver was forced to drop the suspect off near the Avenue des Champs Elysees, where he disappeared.

Paris authorities have launched a manhunt after a gunman attacked offices of the newspaper Liberation and fired outside the HQ of the bank Societe Generale.

A photographer, 27, was critically hurt at Liberation. The gunman later forced a motorist to drive him to the Champs Elysees before allowing him to go.

Police are looking for the same man who broke into the Paris offices of the 24-hour news channel BFMTV on Friday.

Police have now been stationed outside all the main media offices in Paris.

At a news conference, investigators held up two images, one of the suspect in a street and another picture, from BFMTV surveillance cameras, which was earlier shown on Le Parisien‘s website.

Paris prosecutor Francis Molins said that a lone gunman appeared to be behind the three attacks and the hijacking. He said the suspect had not yet been identified and the motive was still unclear.

The man is said to be between 40 and 45, and shaven-headed.

The gunman had walked into BFMTV on Friday morning and emptied the chamber of his gun in the reception area.

“Next time, I will not miss you,” the man had said to an editor he threatened.

A police helicopter hung over the Champs Elysees amid fears the gunman might be heading towards the Eiffel Tower, but it is speculated that he might have gone into the metro.

People have been encouraged to stay indoors.

Paris authorities have launched a manhunt after a gunman attacked offices of the newspaper Liberation and fired outside the HQ of the bank Societe Generale

Paris authorities have launched a manhunt after a gunman attacked offices of the newspaper Liberation and fired outside the HQ of the bank Societe Generale

Police say the suspect is calm and assured and each time has walked away from the scene of his attacks.

French media say the suspect told the motorist he hijacked that he was armed with grenades.

President Francois Hollande, who is in Israel, said the priority was “to stop an individual who had tried to kill and could try to kill again”.

At 10:15 local time on Monday, the gunman entered the Paris offices of Liberation, near the Place de la Republique in the east of the city, and opened fire.

He injured a photographer in the chest and stomach before escaping. Liberation said three spent cartridges had been found.

The gunman did not say anything during the attack, Liberation reported.

Some two hours later, the bank Societe Generale confirmed that a man opened fire outside its headquarters in the western business district of La Defense. No-one was injured, the bank said.

One witness of the bank shooting told Le Figaro that he heard a large bang and saw a man wearing a khaki coat and a cap and carrying a shotgun.

The gunman’s second shot caused panic and the man then disappeared down some stairs on to a street, the witness said.

Police say the gunman then hijacked a car in Nanterre, close to La Defense, and forced the driver to take him to the Champs Elysees, where he was dropped near the metro station George V.

Liberation‘s deputy editor Fabrice Tassel said the victim there was fighting for his life.

The victim – who has not been named – was said to be a freelance assistant photographer who had just arrived at the newspaper office to work on a fashion photoshoot.

Police have sealed off the area around Liberation‘s offices. Interior Minister Manuel Valls has visited the scene, along with Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti and the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe.

Manuel Valls said: “As long as this person is still on the loose and we do not know the motives, this represents a threat. We must move fast.”

Liberation‘s publisher Nicolas Demorand said: “In a democracy, when someone enters a newspaper office with a gun, this is very, very serious, whatever the person’s mental state.”

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