US condemns assassination attempt on Argentine vice president

WASHINGTON

The US on Friday "strongly" condemned an assassination attempt on Argentina's Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

"The United States strongly condemns the assassination attempt on Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, @CFKArgentina," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter. "We stand with the Argentine government and people in rejecting violence and hate."

On late Thursday, a man pointed a gun at Kirchner while she was greeting supporters in front of her Buenos Aires residence. The man pulled the trigger inches from her head but the gun failed to discharge, making a "clicking" noise.

Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez condemned the attack, saying the country is facing a grave institutional and human situation after "an attack against our vice president and social peace has been altered.”

"It is necessary to banish violence from political and media discourse," said Fernandez in his address from the Presidential Palace in the capital Buenos Aires.

The suspect in the attack was identified by the Federal Police as Fernando Andres Zabak, a 35-year-old man of Brazilian nationality, who according to a local news agency last March was arrested inside a car without a license plate with a "35-centimeter-long blade."

Kirchner also served as the president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015.