SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s President Barham Salih on Friday extended his condolences over the assassination of former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe in a tweet saying, I am ‘shocked’.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened for the assassination of former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe” Salih said.
“I am extending sincere condolences to his family، the people and government of Japan at this difficult time” he added in the tweet.
On Friday, former Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot during campaigning for a parliamentary election, he died a few hours later in the hospital, according to Japanese news outlets.
The shooter opened fire on Abe, 67, from behind as the former premier addressed members of the public on a drab traffic island in the western city of Nara. Japanese media reported that the weapon appeared to be a homemade gun.
It was the first killing of a sitting or former Japanese leader since a 1936 coup attempt when several figures including two ex-premiers were assassinated.
Police said a 41-year-old man suspected of carrying out the shooting had been arrested.