ATHENS (Greece) — A gunman opened fire on Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese Prime Minister, as he was delivering a campaign speech in western Japan. This shocked Japan.
Here’s a look at some other high-profile assassinations of politicians in the 21st Century:
October 15, 2021: A supporter of Islamic State stabs David Amess, a British lawmaker, during a meeting with voters.
July 7, 2021: Gunmen assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moise and also wound Martine in an attack on their Port-au-Prince house. For the attack in Haiti, more than 40 people were arrested, including high-ranking officers and former Colombian soldiers.
— April 20, 2021: President of Chad, Idriss deby Itno, is killed fighting rebels in the north. He had just been declared the winner in an election which would have granted him another six years of power.
Dec. 19, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. Russia’s ambassador in Turkey Andrei Karlov is gunned down by a Turkish officer shouting out condemnation of Russia’s military role in Syria in front of an shocked crowd at a photo exhibition. Later, the gunman was killed in a shootout between police.
— June 16, 2016, Jo Cox, a British lawmaker, is shot and stabbed by a far right supporter in Birstall, England. This village is part of her constituency.
February 6, 2013, outside Tunis, Tunisian left-wing opposition leader Chokri Belad is shot to death. Six months later, another left-wing leader Mohammed Brahmi was killed in the same incident. This plunged Tunisia into political chaos that continues to this day. In either case, no one has been convicted.
— Sept. 11, 2012: U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens is attacked by militants in Benghazi (Libya) and killed. Three more Americans were also killed.
October 20, 2011, Long-serving Libyan dictator Moammar Ghadhafi is captured and killed by insurgents following a NATO-backed uprising.
— March 2, 2009: Joao Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau, is murdered by renegade soldiers at his palace hours after a bomb explosion in West Africa killed his rival.
December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhoutto, Pakistan’s first female prime minister and second elected prime minister of a country with a Muslim majority, was attacked at a rally in Rawalpindi (Pakistan) by a suicide bomber.
February 14, 2005: A suicide truck bomb explodes on a Beirut beach boulevard killing Rafik Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister. The attack left 226 people injured and 21 others dead. It is widely believed that it was carried out by Syria.
Dec. 29, 2003: The pope’s Burundi ambassador Archbishop Michael Courtney is gunned down as he returns from a funeral. He died in surgery.
— March 12, 2003: Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian Prime Minister, is killed in Belgrade’s Serbian Government Headquarters. He was a leader in the October 2000 revolt that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic. According to a Serbian court ruling, twelve people were convicted of the murder, which was done to stop his pro-Western reforms.
— May 6, 2002: A populist Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is shot to death in a Dutch city by an animal rights activist, just days before a general election in the Netherlands.
— June 1, 2001: King Birendra of Nepal is shot dead by Crown Prince Dipendra. He opened fire on his family at the royal palace. Queen Aiswarya, a princess, and five other people are among the dead. Officials claim that the shooting occurred because of a dispute about the marriage of the prince.
January 18, 2001: Laurent Kabila, President of the Congo, is assassinated at the Kinshasa presidential palace by one his bodyguards. He was then killed by security forces minutes later.
