REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BIAK -- The Japanese Binsari cave in Biak district, Papua, is being arranged as historical tourism attraction to increase the number of tourist visits to the district, according to the cave keeper, Yusuf.

"Binsari cave is one many tourism attractions being promoted by Biak district administration to attract as many domestic and foreign tourists as possible," Yusuf said here on Sunday.

He noted that the cave was during the World War II used as the hideout of some 5,000 Japanese soldiers.

"But history recorded that led by General Douglas MacArthur, the allied forces bombed the cave on June 21, 1944, killing more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers and disfiguring all the beauty of the cave," he said.

Further, he added that upon an agreement between the governments of Indonesia and Japan in 1989, Binsari cave was dug and some 1,000 skeletons of Japanese soldiers were unearthed and cremated.

"Up to 2012, some 1,000 skeletons of Japanese soldiers had been unearthed but we believe many more are still buried in the cave," he said.

Therefore, he noted that the cave is being promoted for tourists to visit, especially from Japan.

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