Blinken offers condolences for Abe in Tokyo

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday went in person to Tokyo to offer condolences over the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, a close US ally.

The top US diplomat made a previously unscheduled stop in Tokyo and headed first to the US embassy where he led staff in a moment of silence, a State Department official said.

Blinken later was to see Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and voice his sorrow before returning to the United States, reports AFP.

Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister who supported strong defence and political ties with the United States, was fatally shot during a campaign stop Friday in an exceedingly rare gun crime in one of the world's safest countries.

US President Joe Biden earlier went to the Japanese ambassador's residence in Washington to sign the condolence book. Blinken decided to stop in Tokyo as he had been on a trip to Southeast Asia.

During his visit to Thailand on Sunday, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai opened talks with Blinken by offering a moment of silence for Abe.

"I think everyone is still in shock at his assassination, shock at the loss for his family, his friends and the world," Blinken told his Thai counterpart.

"I know it's so deeply felt throughout the region as well as around the world."