Assasination attempt on Japan PM, Man arrested

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday morning escaped unhurt after an unnamed man hurled a smoke bomb on the scene where he was campaigning.

The incident in Wakayama came less than a year after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, which traumatised the country and forced a security shake-up for public officials. Kishida was in the western city to deliver remarks in support of a ruling party candidate and had just finished sampling fish at a port when a disturbance rippled through the crowd gathered to hear him speak.

The Japanese leader later resumed the campaigning, local media reported. “There was a loud blast sound at the previous speech venue. Police are investigating details, but I’d like to apologise for worrying many people and causing them trouble,” national broadcaster NHK quoted Kishida as saying at a stop in western Japan’s Wakayama.

Local news agency Kyodo news reported that a man had been arrested after throwing “what appeared to be a smoke bomb.”

Ryuji Kimura, a 24-year-old man from Hyogo Prefecture, was arrested on Saturday moments after he hurled a cylindrical object resembling a pipe-bomb at Japan prime minister Fumio Kishida.