Tokyo, Europe Brief News – Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has been assassinated while giving a campaign speech in southern Japan.
Abe, 67, immediately collapsed after being shot in the neck and was rushed to hospital.
The ex-leader Shinzo Abe had no vital signs and was bleeding heavily, hospital officials say.
He was pronounced dead about five hours later at 5pm local time (9am UK time).
The suspected attacker – reported to be a male in his 40s – was tackled at the scene and arrested.
Japan’s current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, says he is “lost for words”, describing Abe as a “personal friend”.
Abe – in office in 2006-07 and 2012-20 – remains the country’s longest-serving PM and best-known political figure internationally.
Global leaders are reacting with shock; PM Boris Johnson says the UK stands with the Japanese people at a “sad and dark time.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country after the shooting, which he called “dastardly and barbaric.”
Nara Medical University emergency department chief Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart in addition to two neck wounds that damaged an artery, causing extensive bleeding. He was in a state of cardio and pulmonary arrest when he arrived at the hospital and never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.
Abe was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020.
