There is conflicting information about the health of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after Japanese media reported that he had been shot after he was delivering a speech in Nara.
According to Japanese media, Abe was attacked on Friday and was seen bleeding during an event in the western city of Nara and was unconscious.
For its part, the Japanese government confirmed that Abe was the victim of an armed attack in the Nara region in the west of the country; “Former Prime Minister Abe was shot at around 11:30 a.m. in Nara, and a man suspected of being the shooter was arrested,” its spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno, told reporters, adding that “Abe’s health condition is currently unknown.”
“It appears that Abe suffers from cardiac and respiratory failure, a phrase used in Japan before his death was officially confirmed,” national broadcaster NHK quoted a local fire department as saying.
In parallel, the Japanese broadcaster, quoting police, said that the shooter of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a 40-year-old former Japanese Self-Defense Force sailor, and a resident of the city of Nara, where the former prime minister was giving his speech, has been arrested. .
The police arrested the gunman, but he did not resist, and there is no information about his motive.
According to eyewitnesses, the suspect shot Abe twice from behind with a homemade weapon.