Former Japanese Prime Minister

Mr. Abe, who was Japan’s longest serving prime minister, was assassinated whilst on a campaign trail in the city of Nara, in western Japan last Friday. 
 
Upon hearing the tragic news of the former Japanese Prime Minister, Sir Bob said he was shocked and saddened. 

Abe, 67, was pronounced dead early in the evening, prompting a flood of tributes from current and former world leaders, and anger that a politician could be gunned down in broad daylight in one of the world’s safest societies two days before an election.

Abe, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, who resigned in 2020, was flown to hospital by helicopter after the attack outside Yamato Saidaiji railway station in Nara, an ancient capital in the country’s west known for its Buddhist temples and free-roaming deer.

Japanese leader Fumio Kishida said doctors “were doing everything they can” to save the 67-year-old.

“I am hoping and praying that Abe will survive this,” Kishida said on Friday afternoon. The Japanese prime minister said the attack on Abe during a Japanese election campaign was an attack on “the very foundation of democracy”.

“It is barbaric, malicious and cannot be tolerated,” he said.

Japan’s national broadcaster NHK earlier reported that two gunshots were heard at the scene.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno confirmed Abe has been shot.