Japanese woman 'raped near US bases'

A Japanese woman was allegedly raped on Okinawa island today, and a witness said the attack appeared to involve US servicemen, police said.

Police were questioning the woman, who was in her 20s, and searching the central Okinawan town of Chatan, where the attack allegedly occurred near several American military bases.

An unidentified passer-by told police that several men who appeared to be US servicemen sexually attacked the woman in a parking lot in Chatan, then fled in a vehicle, said Shoichi Shinzato, a spokesman for the Okinawa prefectural (state) police.

The victim told authorities that she was surrounded by several foreign men and that one of them raped her, Shinzato said. She did not say what country the men were from, Shinzato said.

No other details were immediately available, and US military officials declined to comment about the case. ‘‘We have no information,’’ said Masao Doi, a spokesman at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, the largest US defence facility in Asia.

In Tokyo, two officials - Koji Omi, the Cabinet member in charge of Okinawa, and top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda - told separate news conferences they were awaiting the findings of the police investigation.

‘‘If the reported case is true, it’s greatly regrettable and we should lodge a strong protest and necessary steps must be taken,’’ Omi said.

Okinawa, located 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo, is home to most of the 50,000 US troops based in Japan, and crimes committed by soldiers against Japanese there have raised public outcries in the past.

The biggest case involved the gang rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl in 1995 by two US Marines and a sailor, which sparked the biggest anti-US demonstrations in Japan in decades.

Last year, just before an official visit by then-US President Bill Clinton, an American soldier was arrested after entering the home of a Japanese family on Okinawa island in the middle of the night, getting into the bed of a young girl and molesting her.

The US military responded by imposing a drinking ban and a late-night curfew on all service members.

That case also sparked protests on the island and demands for the reduction in US military bases there, prompting Clinton to express regret for misconduct by American service members.

Today’s alleged rape occurred several hours before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was to leave for the United States for his first summit meeting with US President George W Bush. Koizumi was elected in April.

The alleged attack also happened just before Kadena Air Base was to begin an annual weekend festival in which the base would be opened to thousands of Japanese to promote goodwill and friendship between the community and US forces.