Japan to hold terrorism response drills

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TOKYO, June 3 (UPI) -- Japan's central government and prefects were preparing Tuesday to conduct their first-ever biological and nuclear terrorism drills, a cabinet minister said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura announced the drills would be conducted from October to next February in 18 cities and prefectures and are being designed in accordance with a law meant to hone evacuation skills and protect lives and property in a terrorist attack, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Machimura said the drills in the cities of Ehime and Miyazaki would concentrate on a simulated biological attack, while in Kanagawa the government will assume terrorists have used a nuclear device with widespread radioactivity.

Meanwhile, Kyodo reported, the prefectures of Nagano, Tottori, Okayama and Yamaguchi will hold evacuation drills while 14 other prefectures are set to concentrate on map reading and communications exercises.