The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers.

The attack is believed to be the most significant in years against a cleric in Iran.

Reports say the assailants had been posing as journalists.

Sirhan Sirhan, now 78, has been behind bars for more than five decades – despite doubts that he fired the shots that likely changed the course of US politics.

Malcolm X rose to prominence as the national spokesman of the Nation of Islam, an African-American Muslim group that espoused Black separatism.

Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a woman suicide bomber at an election rally in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in 1991.

The government has denied any part, and blamed the assassination attempt on a lone assailant fueled by religious extremism.

Former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka's first woman head of state, survived the attack at her final rally in the capital, but lost her right eye.

Japanese officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, have acknowledged flaws in the security around Shinzo Abe's appearance at the election campaign event.

Shingo Nakaoka tells of efforts to save the former premier following the shooting on July 8.

Shinzo Abe's killing by an unemployed man wielding a homemade gun stunned a nation where both gun crime and political violence are extremely rare.

Dignitaries in Japan often travel with modest security details focused mainly on direct physical threats rather than being protected by the heavily-armed personnel braced for firearms attacks seen in places like the US.