ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A small bomb exploded near a convoy carrying Pervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan who is on trial for treason, police said Wednesday.
Musharraf, who survived multiple assassination attempts while he was in office, was unharmed.
Moments earlier, he had been discharged from the military hospital in Rawalpindi where he has been treated since January. He was on his way to his home in Islamabad at about 3 a.m. local time (8 p.m. Tuesday ET) when the blast happened.
“A bomb went off 30 minutes after the passage of his convoy,” Musharraf’s spokesman Ahmed Raza Kasuri told NBC News.
Kasuri said the attack appeared to be an assassination attempt, but a police spokesman later downplayed it as "an incident” that was “being investigated."
Musharraf, 70, took power in a 1999 coup and served until 2008, when he was forced to step down as his popularity plummeted. He later went into self-imposed exile. Musharraf returned in March of last year to run in the elections -- only to be disqualified and immediately face a number of legal challenges related to his time in office.
The most serious is a high treason case brought against him by the government that could result in the death penalty if he's convicted. The case stems from his decision to suspend the constitution on Nov. 3, 2007, and detain a number of judges.
Musharraf was formally charged in the case on Monday. It was only his second appearance in the court proceedings which started in December. He missed multiple appearances due to security concerns and others after going to the hospital in early January after complaining of chest pains.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
