Shinzo Abe killing: Japan Police chief steps down for 'laxity' in ex-PM's safety

Japan's National Police agency on Thursday blamed loopholes in police protection citing laxity in planning, guarding for the July 8 assassination of its former PM Shinzo Abe.

Its national police chief Itaru NakamuraIts submitted his resignation to the National Public Safety Commission, as a way of taking responsilbility for the fatal shooting.

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The resignation is expected to be approved at Friday's cabinet meeting, reported Japanese media.

The police chief said the country needs to have a new system to fundamentally re-examine guarding, and ensure that such incidents never happen in the future.

In a 54-page investigative report, the National Police Agency concluded that the protection plan for Shinzo Abe neglected potential danger coming from behind him and merely focused on risks during his movement from the site of his speech to his vehicle.

Inadequacies in the command system, communication among several key police officials, as well as their attention in areas behind Abe at the campaign site led to their lack of attention on the suspect's movement until it was too late.

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The report noted that none of the officers assigned to immediate protection of Abe caught the suspect until he was already 7 meters (yards) behind him where he took out his homemade double-barrel gun, which resembled a camera with a long lens, to blast his first shot that narrowly missed Abe. Up to that moment, none of the officers was aware of the suspect's presence.

(With inputs from PTI)