The founder of the Japanese Red Army has declared that she is disbanding the extremist group responsible for several acts of international terrorism since the 1970s.
Fusako Shigenobu, currently under arrest in Japan, said Saturday in a letter to a gathering of about 100 supporters in Tokyo, "I will seek new fights by disbanding the Japanese Red Army."
Shigenobu, who was arrested last November in Osaka Prefecture, founded the group in Lebanon in 1971. According to Japanese intelligence sources, at its peak the group claimed to have 30 or 40 members.