India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend state funeral of Japan's Shinzo Abe

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Japan next week to attend the state funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated during an election campaign event in July.

Mr Modi, who described the Japanese leader as a "dear friend" is expected to join about 50 world leaders including Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau, his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese and US Vice President Kamala Harris for the funeral on September 27.

Abe was delivering a speech near a train station in the western city of Nara when he was shot by an assailant on July 8. He was flown to hospital, where he was not breathing and his heart stopped, officials said. He was 67.

The Abe family held a private Buddhist funeral ceremony for the former leader in July at a temple in Tokyo.

It was the first assassination of a sitting or former Japanese prime minister since the 1930s.

India's Foreign Ministry said Mr Modi would separately meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the visit.

A representative of the ministry, Arindam Bagchi, said Japan was a friendly country and an important partner.

"The prime minister has found time to be able to go despite his busy schedule and be present at the state funeral,” he said.

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