Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died in hospital at the age of 68 after being shot twice in the back. This was reported on Friday, 8 July, by local media.

According to NHK, the politician died at Nara Medical University Hospital. 

On Friday morning, it became known that Abe had been assassinated during a street performance. According to police, the attacker fired a shotgun and hit the politician in the back. Abe was hospitalized unconscious with bleeding. 

It was later reported that Abe’s heart and lungs stopped after the attack. Under the arrest of the heart and lungs in Japan, a state of clinical death can be meant, since only a special doctor can officially confirm it.

Also on that day, it was reported that Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Mikhail Galuzin said he was praying for Abe’s health and condemning the assassination attempt on him.

The attacker turned out to be 41-year-old former sailor of the Japan Self-Defense Forces Tetsuya Yamagami. According to NHK, he told police that he was "unhappy with former Prime Minister Abe and sought to kill him."

Abe has served as Prime Minister of Japan twice, in 2006–2007 and 2012–2020.

On 28 August 2020, Abe announced his intention to step down after eight years in office. The politician called health problems and the need to undergo a course of treatment as the reasons for this decision.