Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has reportedly been shot in the chest.
Abe was delivering a speech in Nara, Japan, when a gunman attacked him.
He was rushed to hospital, and was unconscious after the attack. The attacker has been taken into custody.
Defence minister Nobuo Kishi said Mr Abe was having a blood transfusion, according to Sky News.
Speaking on the issue, the current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said “everything that can be done is being done to revive him” but Mr Abe is “currently in a grave condition”.
Mr Kishida added that the “act of brutality” was “absolutely unforgivable”. He is asking all members of the cabinet to return to Tokyo. Elections to Japan’s upper house are due to be held on Sunday.
A report by public broadcaster NHK said Mr Abe held his chest as he collapsed, his shirt smeared with blood, adding that he appeared to have been in a state of cardiac arrest.
It looked as if Mr Abe had been shot from behind, the channel added, while TBS Television said he had been shot on the left side of his chest and also possibly in the neck.
Kyodo News reported that he had been shot in the right side of the neck.
A spokesman for Nara City Fire Department said Mr Abe was in cardiopulmonary arrest before being taken to hospital.
NHK aired footage showing Mr Abe, 67, collapsed in the street, with security guards running towards him.
It said a puff of white smoke was seen as Mr Abe made a campaign speech outside a railway station.
A reporter at the scene said they heard two consecutive bangs during Mr Abe’s address.
A 41-year-old man has been arrested, police said.
The suspect told officers he was unhappy with Mr Abe and intended to kill him, NHK reported. But Kyodo News said the man had not been motivated by a grudge against Mr Abe’s political beliefs.
It is also reported that the suspect served in the Japanese Navy.