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Topics: World News, News
Joe Harker
People are praising the bodyguard of Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida for the way he dealt with a suspected bomb attack.
Kishida was campaigning on Saturday (15 April) on behalf of one of his party's candidates in the port of Saikazaki in the Wakayama prefecture when the incident occurred.
Footage of the incident showing Kishida's bodyguard spotting the suspected bomb skittering along the floor and batting it away has gone viral, with plenty praising the bodyguard's quick reactions as a sign of a job well done.
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In the clip the bodyguard spotted the device rolling towards Kishida and stepped out, stopping it with his briefcase before kicking it away from the prime minister.
The bodyguard is then seen to be pushing Kishida away from the danger. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.
People who saw footage of the attack had plenty of praise for the bodyguard and the way he worked hard to protect the prime minister.
Plenty said they hoped he got a 'raise' or a 'big bonus' as reward for a job well done, while someone else called it 'one of the coolest irl moments ever'.
Others praised his 'super fast reactions' for immediately recognising the danger and responding without pause.
More pointed out that the 'briefcase' the bodyguard was using was actually a 'kevlar blast protection shield' made to look like a briefcase, and indeed in the footage as he pushes Kishida away from the bomb he opens it up into a larger shield.
With nobody hurt in the attack Kishida was taken to a nearby police station and was later able to continue campaigning without further incident, while one man was arrested at the scene for allegedly throwing a 'suspicious object'.
The man was apprehended by several personnel while a large explosion occurred near where Kishida had been standing before his quick-thinking bodyguard ushered him away.
Reports are not clear whether the weapon was a smoke bomb or a pipe bomb, but it did explode with a loud noise near where the prime minister had been situated.
This attack comes less than a year after the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead while giving a speech in the city of Nara in July 2022.
Since then security around senior politicians in Japan has been tightened in the hopes of preventing another assassination attempt from being successful.