JAPANESE police will question an American tourist who they claim dismembered a woman he met online before scattering some of her body parts across the countryside.

The US man, named as Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar, was linked to the case after a severed head was allegedly found in an apartment he rented.

According to Asahi Shimbun, the 26-year-old was already in police custody on suspicion of “confining” a missing 27-year-old woman when the grim discovery was made.

The New York man initially denied responsibility for the woman’s death. However, he later admitted to Osaka police that he disposed of her body, according to local media.

Japanese police said they found parts of a dismembered body believed to be of a missing woman in the mountains of western Japan.

Hyogo Prefectural Police said investigators found a torso, arms and legs in three locations in parts of Kyoto and Osaka on Sunday.

Police said the parts could be from the body of an unidentified woman who has been missing in the prefecture since mid-February.

Local media said the woman was a 27-year-old office worker from Sanda City.

Police suggested that they searched the locations after being told about them by a suspect, but refused to elaborate.

They said an examination of the body parts is being conducted to identify the victim.

CHILLING FOOTAGE

The woman had reportedly told friends she was planning to meet a man who she had met online.

Security camera footage showed Mr Bayraktar and a woman, believed to be the victim, near JR Morinomiya Station in Osaka around midnight on February 16 and entering the apartment building.

The footage didn’t show her leaving, but the suspect can be seen going in and out of the building with a suitcase, police said.

The building in Osaka’s Nishinari Ward is a tourist hotspot and known for inexpensive accommodation.

Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, however the country has seen a spate of killings in recent months.

In July 2016, a former disabled care home employee killed 19 and injured more than 20 in a knife attack.

And in October last year, police arrested a man after he allegedly murdered his wife and five children and set fire to their house.

Just a month later the country was rocked by news a serial killer had dismembered bodies in his Tokyo apartment.

Police arrested Takahiro Shiraishi, 27 after finding severed human remains stored in picnic coolers and covered with cat litter.

Officers also found 240 bone parts and a saw, which they believed was used to cut up the bodies.

Japanese police say Shiraishi later confessed to the murders.

— with the Associated Press