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In shocking attack, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot at during a rally in Nara Western Japan. Elections for Japan’s upper house, the less powerful chamber of its parliament, are scheduled for this Sunday.
Abe was giving a speech when people heard gunshots. He was holding his chest when he collapsed, his shirt smeared with blood, but was able to speak before he fell unconscious after being attacked by an unidentified man. Gunshots were heard in the vicinity, local media reported adding that police has seized the attacker.
Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who belongs to the same political party as Shizo Abe, is on his way to Tokyo on a helicopter from his own campaign destination of Yamagata, in northern Japan.
PM Fumio Kishida was quoted by The Japan Times saying , “(It) is a despicable act of barbarity that occurred when an election, which is the basis of democracy, is being held and is totally unacceptable.”
It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated. We will do everything we can… At this moment, doctors are working very hard to save Mr Abe,” PM Kishida said.
All Cabinet ministers are to return to Tokyo from their campaign trips.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister had stepped down in 2020 citing health reasons. He was prime minister of Japan twice, from 2006-2007 and again from 2012-2020. He was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga and later by Fumio Kishida.
