Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died on Friday after being shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, as per reports.

A man opened fire on Abe, 67, from behind with an apparently homemade gun as he spoke at a drab traffic island in the western city of Nara.

Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister of Japan and serving member of the House of Representatives, was assassinated on Friday, 8 July 2022, at around

11.30 a.m. JST, in Nara, Nara Prefecture, while attending a political event near Yamato-Saidaiji Station.

Before fatal shooting, Japan's Abe was up close with the crowd.

Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe shot dead.