Japanese PM safe after ‘smoke bomb’ attack during Wakayama speech

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated safely after a blast was heard, just before he began a stump speech in the city of Wakayama on Saturday.

A person was detained at the scene at a port in Wakayama in western Japan, national broadcaster NHK and other local reports said.

However, it wasn't clear what caused the explosion, but some reports said it was a smoke or pipe bomb.

A pipe-like object was thrown near Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during an outdoor speech in the city of Wakayama on April 15, reports Reuters, quoting Japanese media.

Kishida decided to go ahead with the campaign speeches later Saturday. "Elections are the backbone of democracy and we should never threatened by violence, and I believe (continuing on with his campaign schedule) was the prime minister's judgment in that context," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

News outlet BNONews posted a video of the incident on its Twitter handle, where people gathered in Wakayama are seen running for shelter. Local media reported that Kishida took refuge at the site of the incident and was evacuated safely.

An eye witness told NHK that she saw something come flying from behind and that there was a sudden loud noise, chaos and she fled the place with her children.

The security scare comes as Japan hosts G7 ministerial events in northern Sapporo and the city of Karuizawa in Nagano, and ahead of the May leaders' summit in Hiroshima.

Fumio Kishida's speech was a part of his official campaigning for a lower house by-election for the Wakayama No. 1 district. In the view of the attack, Kishida's speech has been cancelled.

Notably, Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving leader in modern Japan, was fatally shot dead during a campaign rally on July 8, just two days before a parliamentary election.

Abe was addressing a political rally when 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, shot Abe with a homemade gun, as he believed that the prime minister was part of a specific organisation that he had a grudge against.

with agency inputs