Ex-Malay PM attacked with pepper spray

Mahathir, 81, staggered and choked due to the spray, and was immediately whisked away by his guards in a car.

An unidentified assailant attacked former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad with pepper spray on Friday in a northeast Malaysian city, witnesses and an aide said.

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Mahathir had just arrived at the airport in Kota Bahru, the capital of Kelantan state, surrounded by about 1,000 cheering supporters, when an unidentified assailant fired pepper spray from a can at him, said a witness, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mahathir, 81, staggered and choked from the spray, and was immediately whisked away by his guards in a car, the witness said.

"It was a pepper spray attack. It choked him and he could not breathe very well," said an aide, also speaking on condition of anonymity.