Presidential candidate's op successful

A PROMINENT Colombian right-wing presidential candidate who was shot during a campaign event in Bogota has successfully undergone initial surgery, the city’s mayor said yesterday.

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Thirty-nine-year-old Senator Miguel Uribe was speaking to supporters in the capital when a gunman shot him twice in the head and once in the knee before being detained.

A security guard managed to detain the suspected attacker, a minor who is believed to be 15 years old.

Uribe was airlifted to hospital in “critical condition” and underwent a “neurosurgical” and “peripheral vascular procedure,’ the Santa Fe Clinic in Bogota confirmed.

He “overcame the first surgical procedure,” Bogota mayor Carlos Fernando Galan told media, adding that he had entered “the critical hours” of recovery.

His wife, in an audio recording shared with media, said “he came out well from the surgery”.

“He fought the first battle and fought it well. He is fighting for his life,” she is heard saying.