Grave with 2,000 Soldiers' bodies found on Iwo Jima

Two mass graves that may hold the remains of up to 2,000 Japanese soldiers have been discovered on the island of Iwo Jima, scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War.

A team of Japanese searchers has discovered 51 remains in two areas listed by the US military after the war as enemy cemeteries, one of which could contain as many as 2,000 bodies, Japan's Kyodo news agency said.

Officials at Japan's health ministry, which supervises search efforts on the remote island, confirmed that 51 bodies had been recovered and two sites believed to be burial grounds had been found.

The discovery of the remains would be one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades toward finding the bodies of roughly 12,000 Japanese who remain missing and presumed dead after the 1945 battle on the island, which has been renamed "Iwoto" by the Japanese government.

The island was seen as key to the US because it had an early warning radar station and three airfields used by Japanese fighter planes that posed a threat to US bombing raids on Tokyo and Japan's main islands.

Virtually all of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers tasked with defending the rugged, volcanic crag were killed in the battle, which became a symbol and rallying point for the United States in the Pacific war after the US flag was raised on its highest ground, Mount Suribachi.

The battle claimed 6,821 American and 21,570 Japanese lives. Dozens of remains are recovered every year, but about 12,000 Japanese are still classified as missing in action and presumed killed on the island, along with 218 Americans.

Fighting began on 19 February, 1945, but Iwo Jima was not declared secured until 26 March.