ANKARA

Japan on Thursday eased rules to allow police to use rifles to cull bears amid rising bear attacks on humans, according to local media reports.

The country's National Police Agency amended the rules, which will take effect on Nov. 13, according to the Kyodo News.

Until now, the regulations for police rifle use have been very restrictive and were strictly limited to extreme situations such as hijackings or other cases.

Under the new rules, police officers may now kill bears that appear in urban areas if there is insufficient time to seek local authorities’ approval for an emergency response.

On Wednesday, Japan also deployed soldiers to combat the increasing bear attacks in the northeastern part of the East Asian nation.

While soldiers will help with tasks, such as setting up and transporting box traps, transporting hunters, and digging sites for the burial of bear carcasses, they will not use firearms to kill bears.

Bear attacks nationwide have claimed at least 14 lives this year, either confirmed or suspected to be bear-linked incidents, and left dozens injured. Akita province alone reported four deaths.