BEIJING, Aug. 27 -- A Japanese war criminal confessed to being part of a group that killed more than 200 Chinese civilians during Japan's war of aggression against China, according to a confession released Thursday.

The State Archives Administration (SAA) published the hand-written confession by Yasuji Kaneko who was born in 1920 and joined the Japanese war of aggression against China in 1940. He was captured in August 1945.

According to the document, in September 1941, Kaneko and his companions arrested two Chinese peasants in Laiwu County of Shandong Province, "tied their hands behind the back and hung them on wooden stakes, and then lit straw below the stakes, thus burning them to death."

Kaneko also confessed to the purge of a village in Xintai County of Shandong in October 1941, with 150 people being killed by his squad.

"I launched one canister of tear gas and lit a pile of straw beside the wall to set fire in the village. I also shot seven bullets from a rifle, killing three peaceful peasants running out from the village," he said in the confession.

In August 1942, together with two companions, Kaneko sexually assaulted one woman aged around 30 in Yanggu County of Shandong.

"I forcedly held her down, sat on her and pressed down her hands," Kaneko said, adding one companion "separated her legs" and the other "stuck a rod into her vulva and stabbed it down violently, thus brutally killing her."

Kaneko also confessed to shooting around 31 people, including old people, children and women, who tried to seek refuge, in Guantao County in May 1943.

This was the 17th of 31 written confessions by Japanese war criminals to be published on the SAA website to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.