TOKYO, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Two men linked to the same gang have been found stabbed to death in Japan in what police suspect is a war between two major crime organizations.
The two men belonged to the Iijima-kai group, based in Tokyo, the Japan Times reported Monday.
Investigators suspect the incidents were in retaliation for Friday's stabbing death of a gangster linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate.
Two other people were shot and injured in Saitama and Tochigi prefectures in what police suspect was also part of the war between the Yamaguchi-gumi and Iijima-kai.
The police also arrested five men Sunday on suspicion of attempting to abduct a former Iijima-kai member from his home in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, on Saturday.
