Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe dies after shooting

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has been confirmed dead after he was shot at a campaign event in the country's western region of Nara on Friday, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported.

“According to a senior LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) official, former prime minister Abe died at a hospital in Kashihara city, Nara region, where he was receiving medical treatment. He was 67,” NHK said.

The shooting of the country’s longest serving PM comes despite Japan’s strict gun laws and with campaigning under way ahead of Sunday's upper house election.

“Former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot in Nara and I have been informed he is in a very grave condition,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after arriving in Tokyo by helicopter from the campaign trail.

“I pray that former prime minister Abe will survive,” the visibly emotional leader said.

“It is a barbaric act during election campaigning, which is the foundation of democracy, and it is absolutely unforgivable. I condemn this act in the strongest terms.”