TOKYO: Japanese police have been questioning an American sailor about the murder of a local woman in a case that is likely to boost opposition to the presence of thousands of US troops in Japan. Japanese media reports said the 21-year-old sailor, who has not been named, admitted killing Yoshie Sato as she walked to work early on Tuesday in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo. Ms Sato, 56, was beaten to death during what appears to have been a botched attempt to steal her handbag, investigators said.

US military officials attempted to defuse anger over the death, imposing a midnight curfew at Yokosuka naval base, where the suspect was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. The US navy said in a statement: “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.”

The decision to hand the sailor over to Japanese police so early in the investigation is also significant; under an agreement between Tokyo and Washington, the US military can hold on to crime suspects in its ranks until Japanese authorities produce evidence to indict them. Nevertheless, Ms Sato’s murder may fuel local opposition to plans to base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan for the first time when the conventionally-powered Kitty Hawk leaves Yokosuka for good in 2008.

Criticism of errant servicemen intensified last month after three Japanese schoolboys were injured by a US sailor in a hit-and-run incident at the nearby Atsugi base. But the impact of this week’s murder is expected to be felt most on the southern island of Okinawa, home to almost all of the 50,000 US troops in Japan and where the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen in 1995 brought tens of thousands of people on to the streets in protest.—Dawn/Guardian News Service