8 December

The body of a Japanese doctor and humanitarian who was shot dead in Afghanistan is expected to arrive in Japan on Sunday evening.

Tetsu Nakamura died on Wednesday after being ambushed by a group of unidentified gunmen in the city of Jalalabad in the eastern province of Nangarhar. A plane carrying his body left Kabul on Saturday. In a ceremony at the airport, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered his condolences to Nakamura's widow, Naoko, and his daughter Akiko. 

The president and a group of soldiers carried Nakamura's coffin. Ghani said it was a sad day. He said Nakamura was a great man who spent his life improving the livelihood of poor people in Afghanistan and making the country strong.

The plane carrying Nakamura's body made a stopover in Dubai early on Sunday before heading to Narita Airport near Tokyo.—NHK