An opposition legislator was abducted, knifed and left for dead by suspected ruling party supporters, the privately owned Daily Newsreported today.
State television also reported the attack late yesterday, and said Mr David Mpala, who is Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP for Lupane, in southwestern Zimbabwe, was in a stable condition.
The Daily Newsreported that Mr Mpala was abducted from Lupane business centre on Sunday afternoon. His kidnappers reportedly drove Mr Mpala away in his own vehicle before dumping him on the side of a road with a deep gash in his abdomen.
There have been numerous reports of politically motivated violence recently by both the MDC and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) ahead of presidential elections set for March.
Each party blames the other for the violence. ZANU-PF has accused the MDC of "terrorism"; the opposition claims around 90 people, most of them MDC supporters, have been killed in two years of political tension.
AFP