Nagasaki mayor dies after suspected yakuza hit

Motive still unclear in rare gun attack that has stunned the Japanese public



NAGASAKI - STUNNED Japanese yesterday placed flowers at the spot where the mayor of Nagasaki was murdered by a gunman, as police investigate the killer's links to the country's largest crime syndicate.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the murder a challenge to democracy, and the authorities pledged to tighten security around political leaders ahead of local polls on Sunday in which the mayor was campaigning for re-election.

Mr Iccho Ito, 61, a political independent and anti-nuclear pacifist, died early yesterday from massive blood loss, hours after being shot outside his campaign offices in Nagasaki, a southern Japanese city which suffered an atomic bombing on Aug 9, 1945 that devastated it.

Police immediately arrested the gunman, 59-year-old Tetsuya Shiroo, who is said to be a senior member of the Suishinkai gang affiliated with Japan's largest underworld syndicate, the Yamaguchi Gumi.

'This criminal act during the election campaign is a challenge to democracy. It cannot be forgiven no matter what,' Mr Abe told reporters in Tokyo. 'We must eradicate violence like this resolutely.'

Yesterday, Mr Motohisa Mizuta, the leader of the Suishinkai affiliate in Nagasaki, went in person to a police station and handed a letter that said his group was disbanding, a senior officer told reporters.

'Our organisation has caused trouble to society,' the officer quoted the letter as saying.

Nagasaki will press ahead with its mayoral race and continue to accept new candidates today, which is the last day for nominations.

Mr Makoto Yokoo, 40, a son-in-law of the mayor and a Tokyo-based journalist with no experience in public office, told the media yesterday he plans to run for Mr Ito's job.

The motive for the killing remained unclear, although police said Shiroo had admitted to the shooting.

Some media reports said Shiroo had been upset at the city's handling of a traffic accident four years ago in which his car was damaged as it passed a public works construction site.

Gun attacks are rare in Japan, which has strict gun laws. Only people with job-related reasons are allowed to own them.

But crime syndicates have the money and know-how to smuggle foreign guns into Japan.

Of the 53 gun attacks reported last year, 36 were committed by the yakuza, or Japanese mafia, the national police agency said.

Police figures showed that membership in yakuza organisations totalled 41,500 last year - a drop from 2005 - but the number of associates willing to do their dirty work was up at 43,200.

Yamaguchi Gumi has reportedly been trying to branch out from its home base in Kobe, western Japan, into Tokyo, leading to rare shootings in the capital earlier this year as groups fought over turf.

Japanese Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma yesterday triggered criticism from opposition parties after he said the shooting of Mr Ito, who was backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, would benefit the communist candidate running against him.

Mr Ito was still fighting for his life in the hospital when Mr Kyuma made the remark deemed to be insensitive.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS