Japan PM denounces explosive attack just before stump speech

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida denounced on Sunday an attack the previous day in which an explosive device was thrown at him just before he was due to make a stump speech in Wakayama city in western Japan.

"A violent act taking place during elections, the bedrock of democracy, can never be tolerated," Kishida told reporters at his official residence.

He also called for stepped-up security during campaigning for lower and upper house by-elections slated for April 23.

The attack on Kishida came less than a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot last July during a stump speech in the city of Nara before the House of Councillors election, an incident that led the National Police Agency to bolster its VIP security.

Kishida, who was due to make a speech at a fishing port in the city, was unhurt after a man threw a cylindrical-shaped explosive device at around 11:25 a.m. from among a crowd of people, sending them fleeing in panic.

• Japan PM Kishida unhurt after smoke bomb thrown during stump speech

Ryuji Kimura, a 24-year-old man from Hyogo Prefecture, was arrested at the scene. He has refused to answer police questions in the absence of a lawyer.

Also on Sunday, police searched Kimura's home. According to investigative sources, the suspect brought with him two objects believed to be explosive devices, including the one used in the attack.

==Kyodo