JAPAN’S former prime minister was assassinated by a gunman who opened fire at him from behind today as he gave a campaign speech on a street.

Shinzo Abe, who was the country’s longest-serving leader when he resigned due to health reasons in 2020, was airlifted after the attack to a nearby hospital in Nara even though he was not breathing and his heart had stopped.

The 67-year-old was later pronounced dead after receiving massive blood transfusions.

Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene and immediately identified him as former navy member Tetsuya Yamagami.

Broadcaster NHK said that the 41-year-old had wanted to kill Mr Abe because he had complaints about the former leader unrelated to politics.  

Video footage shows Mr Abe giving a speech outside a train station ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary election.

Two gunshots can be heard as he raises his hand to make a point, and Mr Abe collapses holding his bloody chest as security guards run toward him.

Guards are then seen leaping onto the gunman and a double-barrelled device that appeared to be a handmade gun is visible on the ground.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and cabinet ministers rushed to Tokyo from a campaign event after the attack.

Mr Kishida called the shooting “dastardly and barbaric,” and pledged that the election for members of Japan’s upper house of parliament would go ahead as planned.

He said the government planned to review the security situation but added that Mr Abe had the highest protection.

Following his resignation as PM, Mr Abe remained a highly influential member of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and headed its largest faction called Seiwakai.

His politics featured around his ultra-nationalism and militarism as he pushed for higher arms spending – which angered many people.

Grandson of war criminal and former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, he often denied Japanese war crimes, particularly the sexual enslavement of Korean women by the military during the second world war, prompting confrontations with South Korea.

During his time in office, Mr Abe failed to achieve his goal of formally rewriting the US-drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support.

In his first term in 2006, which lasted just a year due to his health, Mr Abe became the country’s youngest prime minister.

Gun violence is uncommon in Japan and is usually gang-related.