Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday by a gunman who opened fire on him as he delivered a campaign speech on a street in western Japan, shocking the country.
What You Need To Know
- Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday by a gunman who opened fire on him as he delivered a campaign speech on a street in western Japan, shocking the country
- Other high-profile political assassinations in the 21st century include Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and Chad President Idriss Deby Itno in 2021
- U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed when militants stormed the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya in 2012
- Two British lawmakers have also been assassinated recently, a Conservative in 2021 and a Labour Party lawmaker in 2016
Here’s a global look at other high-profile political assassinations in the 21st century:
— Oct. 15 2021: British lawmaker David Amess is stabbed to death by an Islamic State supporter while meeting with voters.
— July 7, 2021: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is assassinated by gunmen who also wound his wife Martine in an overnight raid on their Port-au-Prince home. More than 40 people have been arrested in Haiti for the attack, including high-ranking police officers and a group of former Colombian soldiers.
Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno was killed by rebels in April 2021. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)
— April 20, 2021: Chad President Idriss Deby Itno is killed while battling rebels in the north. Hours earlier he had been declared the winner of an election that would have given him another six years in power.
— Dec. 19, 2016: Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is shot dead by a Turkish policeman shouting condemnation of Russia’s military role in Syria, in front of a shocked gathering at a photo exhibit. The gunman was later killed in a shootout with police.
— June 16, 2016: British lawmaker Jo Cox is shot and stabbed to death by a far-right supporter in the English village of Birstall, part of her constituency.
— Feb. 6, 2013: Tunisian left-wing opposition leader Chokri Belaid is fatally shot outside his Tunis home. His killing — followed six months later by that of another left-wing leader, Mohammed Brahmi — plunged Tunisia into political chaos with effects reverberating to this day. No one has been convicted in either case.
— Sept. 11, 2012: U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens is killed when militants storm the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Another three Americans died.
Former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)
— Oct. 20, 2011: Longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is hunted and summarily killed by insurgents after being toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.
— March 2, 2009: Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira is killed by renegade soldiers in his palace, hours after a bomb blast killed his rival in the West African nation.
A woman holds the portrait of slain Pakistani former leader Benazir Bhutto during a rally in Lahore, Pakistan, on Aug. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary, File)
— December 27, 2007: Benazir Bhutto, the first female prime minister in a Muslim-majority country as well as Pakistan’s second nationally elected prime minister, was shot at then attacked by a suicide bomber at a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
— Feb. 14, 2005: Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is killed by a suicide truck bomb on a seaside boulevard in Beirut. Another 21 people died and 226 were wounded in the attack, which is seen by many in Lebanon as the work of neighboring Syria.
— Dec. 29, 2003: Archbishop Michael Courtney, the pope’s ambassador in Burundi, is shot by gunmen as he was returning from a funeral and died during surgery.
— March 12, 2003: Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic is shot dead in front of the Serbian government headquarters in Belgrade. He was a key leader of the revolt that toppled former President Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000. Twelve people were convicted in connection with the killing, which was carried out to halt his pro-Western reforms, according to a Serbian court ruling.
— May 6, 2002: Populist Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is gunned down in a northern Netherlands city, days before a general election in which he was a candidate, by an animal rights activist.
— June 1, 2001: Nepal’s King Birendra is killed when his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, opens fire on his family in the royal palace. The dead include Queen Aiswarya, a prince and five others. Officials said the shooting followed a dispute over the prince’s marriage.
— Jan. 18, 2001: Congo President Laurent Kabila is assassinated in the presidential palace in the capital, Kinshasa, by one of his bodyguards, who was killed minutes later by security forces.
