Ex-Taiwan leader's son shot

The son of Taiwan's former Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan was injured in a shooting that killed a bystander during campaigning municipal elections, Taiwan police and senior officials said.

Lien Sheng-wen, vice-campaign manager for Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin, was shot in the left side of the face as he was making a speech for a candidate for city council in Yungho outside the capital Taipei.

"He was immediately rushed to hospital for emergency treatment and his condition was listed as stable since the shot did not injure his brain," said Premier Wu Den-yih.

A man, identified as Lin Cheng-wei, 48, was arrested on the spot over the attack. Police said the suspect jumped on the stage where Lien was speaking, and grabbed him by the neck and shot him.

The bullet exited Lien's face and struck a bystander.

The victim, identified as Wang Yun-sheng, 29, was rushed to hospital, and later died, police said.

Lien was in stable condition at National Taiwan University Hospital.

President Ma Ying-jeou condemned the crime, saying it was "incredible for such shocking violence to occur" on the eve of the elections.

The president ordered the police to step up security around Lien and candidates in the election.

Lien's father, Lien Chan, former Taiwan's vice president and KMT chairman, condemned the attack, as did Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

Tsai also appealed to the KMT not to use the incident for political gain, while chiding the government for failing to maintain law and order.

Lien Chan is famous for having represented the KMT during a landmark visit to China in 2005 to mend fences with that country's Communist Party.

China and Taiwan split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

In 2004, former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian, who was seeking a second term, was also shot on the eve of the election. He was slightly grazed by a bullet.