France’s Macron: Japan has lost a great prime minister in Shinzo Abe

PARIS (Reuters) – Japan has lost a great prime minister, French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday in a tribute to Shinzo Abe after the former Japanese premier’s death in a shooting attack during an election campaign event.

“Japan has lost a great prime minister, who dedicated his life to his country and worked to ensure order in the world,” Macron said on Twitter.

Abe, who was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, 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.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Mark Heinrich)