Bomb threats sent to 11 Tokyo hospitals-Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) – Eleven hospitals in Japan’s capital of
Tokyo have received bomb threats, Kyodo news agency said on
Monday amid heightened security ahead of a weekend general
election.

The University of Tokyo Hospital and 10 other university
hospitals in Tokyo received threatening letters earlier this
month saying they would be bombed within 45 days, Kyodo said,
quoting police.

No demands were made in the letters, Kyodo said, adding
that no suspicious objects have been found at the hospitals and
that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department had launched an
investigation.

Asked about the Kyodo report, a Tokyo police spokesman
declined to comment, saying he had no information about the
case.

Japan has been tightening security ahead of a general
election on September 11 and in the wake of a reported warning
that al-Qaeda might be preparing to attack an Asian city.

Concerns about an attack in Japan rose late in August after
France’s top terrorist investigator, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, was
quoted by the Financial Times as saying al-Qaeda may be
preparing an attack on an Asian financial center such as Tokyo,
Sydney or Singapore.

Japan’s National Police Agency has said up to 13,600 police
would be deployed throughout Japan in the run-up to next
Sunday’s election, with the emphasis on major cities such as
Tokyo and the western city of Osaka. Japan has been on guard
against possible attacks on its soil especially after December
2003, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s cabinet approved
a plan to dispatch troops on a non-combat mission to help
rebuild Iraq.

Ahead of that decision, al Qaeda had reportedly threatened
to “strike at the heart of Tokyo” if Japan sent troops to Iraq.

An audio tape message attributed to senior al Qaeda member
Ayman al-Zawahri that was aired on Al Jazeera television in
October 2004 also mentioned Japan. The tape urged Muslims to
organize resistance against “crusader America” and its allies
throughout the world.