Japan’s Abe taken to hospital after apparent shooting: Reports | News

Local media say an unidentified man attacked the former Japanese prime minister in the western city of Nara.

Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been taken to hospital after apparently being shot during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara, according to media reports.

The NHK broadcaster, citing the local fire department, said on Friday that Abe “is showing no vital signs”.

It said reporter on the scene heard “something that sounded like a gunshot and saw Abe bleeding”.

He collapsed at around 11:30am (02:30 GMT).

Kyodo News said Abe was not conscious and appeared to be in cardiac arrest. The agency said the former prime minister was attacked by an unidentified man on a street in Nara.

A male suspect has been taken into custody.

Robert Power, an Irish citizen who is visiting Nara, said people are “confused” and “baffled” and there are four helicopters overhead.

“We were told Shinzo Abe was just shot here. Helicopters everywhere,” he told Al Jazeera. “People are just glued to the TV.”

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