Shafaq News / Iraq's Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, offered condolences to the family of Japan's former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who was shot down earlier today. 

Al-Kadhimi said in a tweet, "Deepest condolences to the people of Japan and the family of former PM Shinzo Abe. We recall his supportive positions for Iraqi democracy and we strongly condemn the treacherous assassination."

"Political violence is rejected. It only results in destruction and tragedies", he added.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving leader, died on Friday hours after he was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking a country in which political violence is rare and guns are tightly controlled.

A man opened fire on Abe, 67, from behind with an apparently homemade gun as he spoke at a drab traffic island in the western city of Nara, Japanese media reported.