Japan: Suspect may have used homemade pipe bomb to attack PM Kishida, investigators say

New Delhi: Japan’s police are looking into the probability that the objects used in the attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday were potentially homemade pipe bombs, according to investigators on Sunday, reported The Japan Times.

The revelation came after police stormed the 24-year-old suspect Ryuji Kimura’s residence in Kawanishi, Hyogo Prefecture, in the early hours of Sunday.

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Conducting wires discovered on both ends of one of the cylinders, which resembled a steel pipe, led detectives to suspect the objects were pipe bombs, as such devices contain gunpowder enclosed inside a cylinder and are detonated by igniting a fuse, according to NHK.

Police are currently looking into whether the devices were intended to be lethal.

According to investigators, Kimura was also carrying a knife in his backpack at the time of the incident.

On Saturday evening, police reportedly advised neighbours near Kimura’s home to evacuate to a local community centre due to the possibility of explosives being discovered. After police established it was safe, the neighbours were permitted to return home before dawn on Sunday, reported The Japan Times.

The eight-hour search began at 1 am on Sunday. In connection with the incident, police seized more than a dozen cardboard boxes thought to contain confiscated things, including what seemed to be dynamite and a computer.

Kishida said that he expects the police force to step up the safety situation in the country in the wake of the incident.

The attack on the Japanese prime minister brought back cruel memories of the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot at last year during a rally.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Saturday that police have been instructed to boost security and the government would do what is necessary to ensure security when Kishida hosts the May G7 summit in Hiroshima.

With inputs from agencies

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