Japan protests to US over Okinawa 'assault'

[Gerald]

Japan has protested to the US after another incident in Okinawa allegedly involving a member of the US military.

A US serviceman reportedly entered an apartment above a bar and hit a teenage boy. The man fell from a window and was taken to hospital, local reports said.

The Foreign Ministry lodged a complaint with US envoy John Roos, Kyodo said.

The incident comes with all US troops in Japan under a night-time curfew following an alleged rape.

The US has some 26,000 troops based on Okinawa, where crimes involving service personnel have become a source of ongoing tension.

'Trespassing'

Local reports said that the serviceman, who had been drinking, hit a 13-year-old boy after entering his room.

"Let me be absolutely clear. I am very upset, it's an understatement to say I am very upset with the reported incident in Okinawa," Mr Roos said, after he was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

"Police are investigating the case, in which the man could be charged for trespassing, injury and destruction of property," a local police spokesman was quoted by Agence-France Presse news agency as saying.

He added that the man was still at a US military hospital and that police would be requesting custody.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20177028

Note: 2 November 2012 Last updated at 08:44 GMT