"US representatives at the Japan-US Joint Committee (on the bilateral security alliance) told our side today that they will hand over the marine before indictment," a Japanese foreign ministry official said.

"Further details, such as an exact date of his handover, are not immediately available, but they have agreed to take action swiftly and provide full cooperation with Japanese authorities," the official said.

Okinawa police have obtained a warrant for the arrest of 21-year-old lance corporal Jose Torres, who allegedly beat and raped a 19-year-old woman on a street after taking her out of a restaurant in the early hours of May 25.

Japanese politicians immediately voiced their dismay after the latest incident likely to sour relations between the large US garrison and local residents was reported, and called for the marine to be transferred to Japanese custody.

Under a long-standing agreement on the legal status of US forces in Japan the US military is not required to hand over to Japanese police criminal suspects among its members until they are indicted.

But the US side pledged to consider the request on the basis of a 1995 bilateral agreement that committed Washington to give "sympathetic consideration" to the immediate handover of suspects in serious crimes, such as murder and rape.

The accord was hammered out after the gang rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three US servicemen early in 1995 that sparked massive protests against the huge US military presence on Okinawa.

According to press reports, Torres, who has been held in custody at a detention centre at the US Marines' Camp Hansen, has admitted to having consensual sex with the woman.

The island is strategically located within striking distance of the Korean peninsula and China, and hosts about two-thirds of the 47,000 US troops in Japan.

A string of crimes committed by US soldiers, as well as disputes over the ownership and use of the land on which US military facilities sit, have made Okinawa residents reluctant hosts.

WAR.WIRE