![Mysterious skulls and skeletons unearthed 35 years ago could be linked to notorious war crimes, Japanese activists say](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/07/26/b4483d59-0082-4983-a0b5-3437f31df522/thumbnail/1200x630/8cd44163707753c2290261b4dd8e2f01/ap24198305234754.jpg?v=5501038cbc281520ff9fdc308faab7dc)
Mysterious skulls and skeletons unearthed 35 years ago could be linked to notorious war crimes, Japanese activists say
CBSN
Depending on who you ask, the bones that have been sitting in a Tokyo repository for decades could be either leftovers from early 20th century anatomy classes, or the unburied and unidentified victims of one of the country's most notorious war crimes.
A group of activists, historians and other experts who want the government to investigate links to wartime human germ warfare experiments met over the weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of their discovery and renew a call for an independent panel to examine the evidence.
Japan's government has long avoided discussing wartime atrocities, including the sexual abuse of Asian women known as "comfort women" and Korean forced laborers at Japanese mines and factories, often on grounds of lack of documentary proof. Japan has apologized for its aggression in Asia, but since the 2010s it has been repeatedly criticized in South Korea and China for backpedaling.
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Kinshasa, Congo — An attempted jailbreak in Congo's main prison in the capital left at least 129 people dead, most of them in a stampede, authorities said Tuesday. A provisional assessment showed that 24 inmates were shot dead by "warning" gunshots as they tried to escape from the overcrowded Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa early Monday, Congolese Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani said on the social platform X.