Japan bomber may have been found after 50 years
For decades, Satoshi Kirishima’s smiling mugshot has adorned wanted posters outside police stations throughout Japan.
After evading authorities for 49 years, they believe they may have finally apprehended him.
A patient at a hospital near Tokyo has asserted that he is Kirishima, a member of a militant group responsible for numerous deadly bombings in the 1970s.
Police are awaiting DNA test results on the man, who was admitted under an alias while battling terminal cancer.
Kirishima was affiliated with the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, a radical leftist organization suspected of orchestrating multiple bombings targeting companies in Tokyo between 1972 and 1975.
One of the group’s attacks at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in 1974 resulted in the deaths of eight individuals.
The National Police Agency of Japan notes on its website that Kirishima violated regulations concerning explosive materials and is sought for the “serial bombings of companies.”
According to local media, Kirishima is accused of aiding in the placement and detonation of a homemade bomb that damaged a portion of a building in Tokyo’s Ginza district during an attack on April 18, 1975.
After 49 years, Kirishma, who would now be 70, may have finally been located.
He initially used a different name when checking into a hospital in Kamakura City in Kanagawa, south of Tokyo.
But he told hospital officials on Thursday he was Kirishima, saying he wanted to use his “real name” in his final moments as he only has a few months left to live, according to reports.
Police are now carrying out DNA tests to confirm his identity, describing his possible re-emergence as a bolt out of the blue.
