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| Japan explosions: Blasts in park kill at least one and injure three in Utsunomiya | Japan explosions: Blasts in park kill at least one and injure three in Utsunomiya |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| At least one person has been killed and three others are injured following twin explosions in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya. | At least one person has been killed and three others are injured following twin explosions in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya. |
| The explosions occurred in a car park near a park in the city, which is 60 miles north of Tokyo, shortly after 11:30am (2:30am GMT), a spokesman for the fire service said. | The explosions occurred in a car park near a park in the city, which is 60 miles north of Tokyo, shortly after 11:30am (2:30am GMT), a spokesman for the fire service said. |
| Kyodo News service reported a burned body was found in the park after police received a call saying a person was engulfed in flames following sounds of an explpsion. | Kyodo News service reported a burned body was found in the park after police received a call saying a person was engulfed in flames following sounds of an explpsion. |
| The Yomiuri Shimbun said one of the parked cars exploded and burnt down two other vehicles there. | The Yomiuri Shimbun said one of the parked cars exploded and burnt down two other vehicles there. |
| Minutes later police found a scorched, dismembered man's body inside the park, it said. | Minutes later police found a scorched, dismembered man's body inside the park, it said. |
| State broadcaster NHK said the cause of the blasts was currently unknown but police were investigating whether the two blasts were linked. | State broadcaster NHK said the cause of the blasts was currently unknown but police were investigating whether the two blasts were linked. |
| One of those injured is reportedly being treated for shrapnel wounds. | One of those injured is reportedly being treated for shrapnel wounds. |
| NHK said the sites of the two explosions were around 200 metres apart, and police found a paper believed to be a suicide note in one of the burnt cars. | |
| The vehicle was owned by a 72-year-old former member of the Self-Defence Forces, whose house in the Utsunomiya city had been destroyed in fire shortly before the explosions hit. | |
| Images broadcast by NHK showed two burnt out cars in a parking lot about 650ft from the park and a charred broken bench at the edge of the park, where a folk art festival was underway. | Images broadcast by NHK showed two burnt out cars in a parking lot about 650ft from the park and a charred broken bench at the edge of the park, where a folk art festival was underway. |
| The festival has now been cancelled, Sky News reported. | The festival has now been cancelled, Sky News reported. |
| Crime is low in Japan and explosions like this are rare but there have been small pipe bomb blasts linked to extreme leftists which occasionally hit US military bases. | |
| Last year, a homemade pipe bomb exploded at the controversial Yasukuni shrine, where Second World War soldiers accused of war crimes are honoured, damaging toilets at the facility but no one was hurt. | |
| A South Korean man was later sentenced to four years in prison over the attack. | |
| Additional reporting by agencies | Additional reporting by agencies |