Peru's ex-President Alan García shoots himself before arrest

Peru's former President Alan García has shot himself in the neck as police came to arrest him, media reports and police sources say.

Officers took him to Casimiro Ulloa hospital in the capital, Lima, where he is in a serious condition, the reports say.

Mr García is accused of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht - claims he denies.

Officers had been sent to arrest him in connection with the allegations.

• 'The largest foreign bribery case in history'

• Politicians suspected in bribery scandal

Mr García served as president from 1985 to 1990 and again from 2006 to 2011.

Investigators say he took kickbacks from Odebrecht during his second term in office, linked to a metro line building project in the capital.

Odebrecht has admitted paying almost $30m (£23m) in bribes in Peru since 2004.

But Mr García says he is the victim of political persecution.