Two men injured in separate bear attacks in Japan

TOKYO. KAZINFORM - Two men were injured Wednesday in separate bear attacks in Japan, police said, the latest in surge of reported bear attacks in which four people are believed to have died since late May, Kyodo reports.

In Hamada, Shimane Prefecture, western Japan, a 63-year-old man suffered injuries to his face and left hand when a 1.5-meter-long bear, believed to be an Asian black bear, attacked him and his friend at around 7:30 a.m. while they were on a river bank preparing to fish.

The local government said four bear sightings in the area have been reported this month.

In Fukushima Prefecture, a 66-year-old company employee had his right wrist bone fractured when a 1.5-meter-long bear bit it around 2 p.m. while he was checking electric cables in a mountainous area of Aizuwakamatsu. The man also sustained scratches but managed to escape.

Since late May, the corpses of four people -- two men and a woman in their seventies and a man in his sixties -- have been found in a forest in Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan. The bodies of all four had been mauled, leading authorities to suspect they had all been attacked and killed by bears.