'Deeply shocking and distressing': PM Lee offers condolences to Japan for ex-PM Shinzo Abe's death

SINGAPORE — Following the death of Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe on Friday (July 8), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the incident "deeply shocking and distressing", and offered his condolences to Abe's loved ones as well as the people of Japan.

"Received with a heavy heart the news that Mr Abe has succumbed to his injuries and passed on," Mr Lee wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.

"This is a deeply shocking and distressing incident. I offer my sincere condolences to Mrs Abe Akie, Mr Abe’s loved ones, and the people of Japan." 

Abe, 67, was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election.

He was shot from behind with an apparently homemade gun as he spoke at a traffic island in the western city of Nara, Japanese media reported earlier.

In an earlier Facebook post, after news of the shooting but before the announcement of Abe's death, Mr Lee had written that he was "deeply shocked" to learn of the "senseless act of violence". 

"Mr Abe is a good friend of Singapore. I had just hosted him to lunch in May, on my visit to Tokyo. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr Abe and his family," he wrote.

News agency Reuters reported that the hospital where Abe was warded said that he died at 5.03pm local time (4.03pm Singapore time), about 5.5 hours after he was shot. 

A doctor said that Abe had bled to death from two deep wounds, one on the right side of his neck. 

He had no vital signs when he arrived at the hospital.