Shinzo Abe has been shot while campaigning in the city of Nara

He was delivering a speech in the western Japanese city of Nara when the incident happened; broadcaster NHK said a male suspect has been detained. Abe was twice prime minister, including from 2012 to 2020 – an eight-year stint that was the longest uninterrupted tenure for a post-war Japanese leader.

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has been taken to hospital bleeding after collapsing while delivering a speech in the city of Nara in western Japan.

Police said a 41-year-old man suspected of carrying out the shooting in the western city of Nara had been arrested.

“Former prime minister Abe was shot at around 11.30am in Nara.

One man, believed to be the shooter, has been taken into custody.

The condition of former prime minister Abe is currently unknown,” chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

“Whatever the reason, such a barbaric act can never be tolerated, and we strongly condemn it,” Matsuno added.

“A local fire department says former prime minister Abe appears to be in a state of cardio-respiratory arrest,” public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo said – a term used in Japan before a feared death can be confirmed by a doctor.

Several media outlets reported that he appeared to have been shot from behind, although NHK said Abe appeared to be shot in the chest.

Police identified the suspected shooter as Tetsuya Yamagami, a resident of Nara.

NHK said the shooter, arrested for attempted murder, used a “hand-made gun”.

Kyodo reported he was a former member of the Self-Defence Forces.

Abe, 67, was shot while he was standing and making an election campaign speech ahead of Sunday’s election for the parliament’s upper house.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is seen as having the crucial backing of Abe within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), will return to his office in Tokyo from Yamagata prefecture where he was campaigning for Sunday’s election.

All cabinet members have also been asked to gather in Tokyo.

The United States said it was “saddened and shocked” by the shooting. “Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the United States,” Washington’s ambassador in Tokyo Rahm Emanuel said.

“We don’t know his condition, we do know he’s been shot and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, with the people of Japan,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

There was no immediate reaction from Beijing. State media outlets including CCTV and Xinhua reported the incident soon after it took place.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, currently hosting an enclave of top diplomats from the G20 grouping in Bali, issued a statement expressing “her sympathies in the name of G20 foreign ministers to the Japanese foreign minister”.

Also reacting was Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said on Twitter that “our thoughts are with his family and the people of Japan at this time”.

Tsai Ing-Wen, the leader of self-ruled Taiwan, described Abe as “not only a good friend of mine, but also a staunch friend of Taiwan’s”.

“He has supported Taiwan for many years and spared no effort to promote the progress of Taiwan-Japan relations,” Tsai wrote on Facebook.

Abe served two stints as prime minister, including a nearly eight-year run from 2012 to 2020 – the longest uninterrupted stint in power for Japanese leader in its post-war era.

He first held the post from 2006 to 2007, before abruptly quitting. He said the intestinal ailment ulcerative colitis made it untenable to continue in the job.

But with the LDP ousted in 2009 following a decades-long rule of the country, Abe returned in 2012 and presided over a landslide victory.

He then launched a three-pronged “Abenomics” strategy to beat persistent deflation and revive economic growth with hyper-easy monetary policy and fiscal spending, along with structural reform to cope with a fast-ageing, shrinking population.

But by the summer of 2020, public support had been eroded by his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak as well as a series of scandals including the arrest of his former justice minister.

Japan has had a history of high-profile assassinations or assassination attempts. Among them was the killing of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi by naval officers in 1932, in a failed coup.

Japan is a country with some of the strictest gun laws among leading economies and shootings are rare.

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Shinzo Abe has been shot while campaigning in the city of Nara

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