Japan’s prime minister unscathed in bomb attack at rally

Tokio.- The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, was evacuated today from an electoral act moments before an explosion occurred, which did not injure the president, according to the Japanese authorities, who immediately arrested the person allegedly responsible for launching the explosive device.

The incident took place in the port of the city of Wakayama (west) around 11:30 am local time (2:30 am GMT), when a strong explosion was recorded and a column of white smoke was observed in the place where it was Kishida’s campaign speech was scheduled and two hundred people had gathered to hear it.

“I saw that something was launched, but I was able to escape and at that time I could hear the explosion,” said the prime minister, who also pointed out that despite the incident “he will continue with his electoral acts scheduled for today and tomorrow,” in statements to a high official of his party collected by the state chain NHK.

“We are going to hold an important election for our country, and we must work together to keep it going,” Kishida said in another campaign speech held this Saturday near the Wakayama railway station, approximately one hour and ten minutes after the incident, to which he also referred in his speech.

The Japanese authorities arrested a man at the scene of the incident as allegedly responsible for launching the explosive object, which according to eyewitnesses and images captured by the media, was a metal cylinder that could be a pipe bomb.

In the images taken by NHK at the scene, you can see how a person who was about 10 meters away throws a metal tube at Kishida’s back, who turns with his security personnel and looks at the ground before being evacuated to hastily.

At the same time, a person from the public pounced on the young man who had thrown the object and two other security personnel soon approached, managing to knock him to the ground while struggling. With the president already evacuated, the device can be heard exploding, while the suspect drops a second metal tube.

Identified attacker

The Japanese authorities confirmed that the detainee is a 24-year-old man named Ryuji Kimura, who was also carrying a second explosive device, although his motives are still unknown.

The young man is a resident of the city of Kawanishi, in the Hyogo prefecture, in the west of the country, according to the driver’s license he had with him, since he would have refused to speak to the authorities, according to local media reports.

At the time of the arrest, Kimura was carrying a backpack and another metal object, believed to be a second pipe bomb, and is now in custody, although he has refused to testify until his lawyer arrives.

Similarities to the Abe assassination

Electoral rallies are usually held in Japan in the middle of the street and with few security measures, due to the low rate of crime and attacks with weapons typical of the Asian country.

However, today’s incident took place after former Japanese president Shinzo Abe died last July after being shot in the back with a homemade firearm, while participating in an electoral act of the same type in the city of Nara.

The Executive and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) have condemned the incident this Saturday, which comes before another round of local elections scheduled for next week to elect mayors and members of assemblies.

“It is extremely regrettable that this should happen during the election period, which is the foundation of democracy, and it is an unforgivable act,” said Hiroshi Moriyama, the director of the LDP’s election campaign committee.

In addition, the event occurs the same weekend that Japan hosts two G7 ministerial meetings, Foreign Affairs and Energy and Environment. A summit of leaders of that group of countries is scheduled for the end of next month in the city of Hiroshima.

With information from Efe.