ISLAMABAD: Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a gunman during an election speech in western city of Nara.

According to reports, Abe, 67, was delivering a speech for the House of Councilors election near a train station when he was shot by an assailant. He was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

Police said a 41-year-old man suspected of carrying out the shooting has been arrested. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has strongly condemned the shooting while Japanese people and world leaders expressed shock at the violence in a country in which political violence is rare and guns are tightly controlled.