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Explosions heard near US naval base in Japan-police
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-13 14:07

TOKYO -- No injuries had been reported after two explosions were heard late on Friday near a US naval base where a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will soon dock south of Tokyo, Japanese police said on Saturday.


USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the US Navy's Sixth Fleet, is seen in Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti September 6, 2008. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday accused the West of acting provocatively in and around the Black Sea, where NATO is amassing warships to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia. [Agencies]

Police said investigations were underway and that rocket fragments had been found near the controversial naval base at Yokosuka, but few other details were available.

Residents had reported that the roof of one nearby home had been damaged by the blasts, police said.

The blasts occurred about two weeks before the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington is scheduled to arrive at the port city of Yokosuka on September 25.

It will be the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be stationed in Japan, the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks.

Local residents and civic groups expressed concerns over the deployment of the USS George Washington after a fire on the board the warship in May.

The commander of the US military in Japan told Reuters earlier this month that the fire, which blazed for 12 hours and seriously injured one sailor, never posed a threat to the ship's nuclear reactor.

But the fire came after news last month that water containing a small amount of radiation had leaked from a US nuclear-powered submarine that had stopped in Japan, deepening concerns about the carrier's deployment.

Small, home-made rockets have been fired in the past in protest at the deployment of US forces in Japan but have never caused serious damage or injury.

The George Washington replaces the USS Kitty Hawk, one of the oldest active ships in the US Navy.