NAHA, Okinawa Pref.: The U.S. military has admitted that it used a flare bomb found on a rice field in the town of Kin in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa on Thursday, Japanese authorities said Friday.

The object was a 60-millimeter illumination mortar bomb used by the U.S. military stationed in Okinawa during an exercise, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau.

The U.S. military has also admitted that it used two other flare bombs found Friday morning at a site several hundred meters away from the rice field, the bureau said.

The U.S. military's Camp Hansen is located several hundred meters away from the rice field.

On Nov. 26, the bureau notified the Okinawa prefectural government of the U.S. military's plan to conduct exercises, including live-fire training, at Camp Hansen for seven days through next Sunday.

At around 5:35 p.m. Thursday (8:35 a.m. GMT), local police received an emergency call saying that what appeared to be a flare bomb had been dropped on the rice field.

According to the police and other sources, the flare bomb was 10 centimeter long, weighed some 250 grams and had a parachute attached to the end of a wire. A private residence is located 50 meters from where the object landed.

One of the two other flare bombs found near the rice field was hanging from a tree branch, while the other was discovered on a road, according to the town government.

No one has been injured.

JIJI Press