Japanese policeman dies after gangster shooting

NAGAKUTE, Japan, May 17 (Reuters) A Japanese policeman died after being shot by a gunman who had earlier injured his son and daughter and taken a woman hostage.

In the latest shoot-out to rattle tranquil Japan, the policeman was shot as he rescued a colleague who had also been shot by the gunman, a former gangster.

The policeman died a few hours later, a police official said, but the condition of the rescued officer was not life-threatening. The son and daughter were taken to hospital.

The stand-off comes a month after a gangster shot a fellow mobster and hid in an apartment before shooting himself, and another gangster fatally shot the mayor of Nagasaki, shocking a country where gun control is tough and shootings are rare.

Japanese media said police had sent the officer to the gunman's house in Nagakute, a suburb of the central city of Nagoya, after receiving a call from someone saying their father was ''acting violently with a gun in his hand''.

The gunman later demanded to speak to his daughter in hospital as police were trying to persuade him to surrender.

TV footage showed helmeted police with riot shields rescuing the first policeman, who had been left lying in front of the house for hours because of threats from the gunman.

The gunman, a former member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, shot at police from the house during the rescue and remained holed up with the hostage.

Some media said the hostage could be his wife.

Last month's shootings prompted calls for even stiffer gun control in a country where legal firearms are mostly in the hands of police and hunters.

Illegal guns tend to be owned by members of the ''yakuza'', crime syndicates whose mainstays include prostitution, drugs, extortion and even finance.

The recent shootings have revived international interest in the yakuza, whose members were traditionally recognised by their large, elaborate tattoos and missing little fingers -- cut off to apologise for mistakes or show loyalty to the boss.

Official yakuza membership stood at 41,500 in 2006, slightly down from 2005, while the number of hangers-on rose marginally to 43,200.

Gang membership in itself is not a crime in Japan.

Reuters BDP DB2257