Japanese cops probe US sailor

2006-01-06 13:19

Tokyo - The US Navy has taken an American sailor into custody on suspicion of killing a Japanese woman earlier this week near Tokyo, the US military said on Friday, and Japanese police questioned him.

Yoshie Sato, 56, was found beaten and unconscious in Yokosuka on Tuesday, and later died of internal bleeding. Police believe the victim was attacked during a robbery on her way to work.

The case risked further inflaming local opposition to plans to build an American military airstrip in the southern island of Okinawa and base a US nuclear-powered warship at Yokosuka for the first time.

The 21-year-old sailor, who was not identified, was being held at the base in Yokosuka pending the investigation into the killing, said US Naval Forces Japan.

The sailor was based on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and has been in Japan since May 2004. He has been in the Navy for about two years and Japan was his first assignment, said the Navy.

Sailor confessed

Japanese news reports said the sailor had already confessed to killing Sato, but that report could not be confirmed by police.

Tatsuya Ishihara, spokesperson for Kanagawa Prefectural Police, said a request by Japanese interrogators to question the sailor had been approved by US authorities.

Under a US-Japan agreement, the Navy would have to hand over the sailor if Japanese authorities requested it.

The US Navy said it was co-operating closely with Japanese police, and had imposed a temporary curfew requiring Navy personnel to be back on base by midnight until next Monday.

"The entire Navy community in Japan is deeply saddened by this incident and will immediately implement a period of reflection to collectively demonstrate sympathy for the tragic loss of life," said the Navy.

The US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said: "The US military and the American people are deeply shocked and saddened by this event."

US, Japan must try harder

Japanese Defence Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga said that both Japan and the US had to work harder to stop such crimes.

"Japan-US alliance can be built only through co-operation from the community, and we must make utmost efforts to prevent recurrence of such misconduct," he said.

In 1995, an uproar over the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen on Japan's southern island of Okinawa triggered massive protests and led to the relocation of an air base to a less densely populated part of the prefecture.

The rape case also resulted in an agreement with the US military that it would hand over American suspects in serious crimes to Japanese authorities for pre-indictment investigation.

About 50 000 US troops are stationed in Japan under a joint security pact, but Tokyo and Washington agreed in October to move 7 000 Marines from Okinawa to the US territory of Guam, and shift some of the remaining troops within Japan.

- AP