An explosion near the Japanese port of Wakayama forced the Japanese prime minister to leave as he prepared to start a speech, with the authorities making an arrest.

Japan's prime minister was the target of a smoke bomb while giving a speech in the port of a city in the west of the country. The Japanese leader hid and was removed from the scene unharmed. The suspect was soon apprehended by the authorities.

Fumio Kishida was about to give a speech at a port in the city of Wakayama, south of Osaka, when a loud explosion was heard.

The explosion occurred at around 11:30 (04:50 in Mozambique) and the authorities detained one person, according to local media.

Several media outlets, including the Kyodo news agency, reported that an object similar to a "smoke bomb" had been thrown, but that there were no reports of injuries or visible damage at the scene.

Television footage showed people running, then the sound of an explosion, followed by white smoke.

One person was detained at the scene in the fishing port of Saikazaki, Wakayama, where Kishida was due to give an election speech, according to public broadcaster NHK.

NHK broadcast footage showing a man on the ground being restrained and removed from the scene as the crowd dispersed. The man was taken into custody.

"I was in shock. My heart is still beating," one woman told NHK.

Another person told the television station that the panic in the crowd began even before the explosion, after someone said they saw an explosive device being thrown.

Kishida had just tasted fish on the spot and was about to address the crowd in an initiative to support a candidate from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the upcoming election for the lower house of parliament.

"It is regrettable that such an incident occurred in the middle of an election campaign, which is the basis of democracy. This is an unforgivable atrocity," Hiroshi Moriyama, head of the LDP's election strategy, told NHK.

Japan has stepped up security measures following the assassination in July of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead while speaking at an election campaign event.

This incident comes as Japan hosts G7 ministerial meetings in the north and center of the country this weekend, with the G7 leaders' summit to be held in Hiroshima in May.

Source: Lusa