Bear attacks left five people injured in three Japanese prefectures on Sunday morning, the latest in a series of bear incidents across the country.

Police in Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan, said a bear assaulted a 78-year-old woman in Gojome Town, and then attacked a 50-year-old woman who approached when she heard the first woman screaming.

The pair were transported to a hospital in Akita City. Police said they were conscious and able to speak.

An 83-year-old man sustained injuries, including some to his face, in a bear attack just outside the entrance of his home in Misato Town, also in Akita Prefecture. He was taken to hospital. Police said he was also conscious and able to speak.

A town official said the bear was captured and killed, after a prefectural employee who has a hunting license shot the animal with a tranquilizer gun around noon.

Akita Prefecture has been warning people about Asian black bears across the prefecture, as the number of attacks on humans has surged there since October.

In neighboring Aomori Prefecture, a ramen restaurant employee in his 50s was attacked by a bear just outside the shop in Sannohe Town. He reportedly sustained injuries to his forehead, and went home after receiving treatment at a hospital. The town is patrolling the neighborhood and calling on nearby residents to be careful.

In central Japan's Niigata Prefecture, a man in his 60s was assaulted by a bear which emerged from bushes outside his home.

Police said the roughly 1-meter-long animal attempted to push down the man, and clawed his left flank.

nhk