Fumio Kishida attack: Suspect indicted on attempted murder charge after strike on Japan’s Prime Minister

A man who was later identified as Ryuji Kimura is arrested after what appeared to be a pipe bomb was thrown at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Photo / AP

Prosecutors in Japan indicted a 24-year-old man on Wednesday on attempted murder and other charges in the explosive attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in April, Japanese media reported.

Kishida was campaigning for elections in Wakayama in western Japan when a man threw a homemade pipe bomb at him. Kishida was unhurt, but two others had minor injuries.

After a three-month psychiatric evaluation of the suspect, prosecutors determined that Ryuji Kimura, 24, is mentally fit for trial and that the bomb used in the attack was lethal, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Photo / AP

Kyodo reported that court records show Kimura may have been angry because he couldn’t file for candidacy in elections last year.

The attack came about a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed while campaigning for elections.

Gun and bomb violence in Japan is exceedingly rare, and the attacks on Abe and Kishida shocked many here.