The weapon thrown toward Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a stunning attack Saturday in the city of Wakayama is unlikely to have been a smoke bomb as initially suggested in media reports, weapons experts say, but rather an improvised explosive device known as a pipe bomb that could have been lethal if built and deployed properly.
While little is definitively known about the device used by the suspect — 24-year-old Ryuji Kimura — preliminary expert analysis of video footage of the incident indicates that it was made using a piece of metal tubing, most likely a commercially available stainless-steel pipe, that was sealed at both ends using screw-on end caps.
The pipe bomb, about 20 to 30 centimeters long and featuring conducting wires on both ends of the cylinder, was hurled toward the prime minister as he was set to give a speech to a crowd of about 200 people during a campaign stop.