Mayor In Japanese City Of Nagasaki Shot

Tuesday, April 17th 2007, 7:18 am

By: News On 6

TOKYO (AP) _ The mayor of the southwestern Japanese city of Nagasaki was shot outside a train station on Tuesday as he campaigned for local elections. He was in critical condition, police said.

Mayor Iccho Ito was shot on a street near his office, just in front of Nagasaki train station, according to local police official Isao Teramoto.

A man with links to organized crime was quickly detained, according to Kyodo News agency. NHK footage from Nagasaki showed several officers escorting a man into a police car, and an ambulance leaving the scene.

It was the second shooting in recent years of a mayor of Nagasaki, which was destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945 and whose leaders have actively campaigned against militarism.

In 1990, former Nagasaki mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was shot and seriously wounded in 1990 after saying Japan's emperor, beloved by rightists, bore some responsibility for World War II.

Rightists have frequently been linked to organized crime.