TOKYO

A Japanese doctor working as a key member of a Japanese humanitarian aid organization died after being shot in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Tetsu Nakamura, the 73-year-old local representative of Peshawar-kai, which operates in Afghanistan, was shot in the right of the chest, officials at the Japanese group and others said.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he was shocked by the news.

"Nakamura made great contributions to medical services and irrigation projects in Afghanistan," Abe said.

"People in Afghanistan thanked him for making various achievements even while risking his life in dangerous areas," the prime minister said.

Nakamura was conscious when he was taken to a hospital in Jalalabad and was set to be transported by helicopter to a hospital in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, the Peshawar-kai and other officials said.

The shooting occurred when Nakamura and others were heading by car from Jalalabad to an irrigation canal construction site, some 20 kilometers away, the officials said.

Five others, including the driver of the car and a security guard, also died in the incident.

In 2008, Peshawar-kai staff member Kazuya Ito, then 31, was abducted by an armed group and later found dead.

After the 2008 incident, the group withdrew Japanese staff members from Afghanistan, but Nakamura stayed in the war-torn country to continue his activities.

Nakamura returned to Japan temporarily last month and went back to Afghanistan on Friday.

According to the group's website and other sources, Nakamura was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan. After graduating from the School of Medicine of Kyushu University, he worked in Japan and later in Pakistan.

His activities expanded to Afghanistan in 1989, supporting the reconstruction of local agricultural communities by joining work to dig wells and build irrigation canals.

He received an award from the Japanese foreign minister in 1988 and was honored by the Afghan government in 2018.

Jiji Press