NHK says former Japan PM Abe has died

Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died in hospital on Friday, local media reported, hours after being shot at a political campaign event in an attack condemned as "absolutely unforgivable".

Citing a senior member of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, national broadcaster NHK said "former prime minister Abe died at a hospital in Kashihara city, Nara, where he was receiving medical treatment.

He was 67." The attack came before noon in the country's western region of Nara, where Abe had been delivering a stump speech with security present, but spectators able to approach him easily.

At least two shots appear to be fired, each producing a cloud of smoke. Local media identified the man as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, citing police sources, with several media outlets describing him as a former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, the country's navy.

He was wielding a weapon described by local media as a "handmade gun", and NHK said he told police after his arrest that he "targeted Abe with the intention of killing him".