Boy scout saves Gayoom from assassination bid

Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, escaped an assassination attempt yesterday while on a tour of the Indian Ocean archipelago, a senior minister told AFP.

Officials said a 20-year-old unemployed man tried to plunge a knife into Gayoom's stomach, but that Asia's longest serving President was unhurt thanks to a boy scout who wrestled with the attacker before he was detained.

"The President was greeting people when a young boy pulled out a knife and tried to stab him in the stomach," Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed said by telephone from Male.

AFP