Prosecutors in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, where two-thirds of 47,000 US troops in Japan are stationed, indicted Marine Corps Major Michael Brown, 39, the official for the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office told AFP.

"He was indicted on charges of attempted rape and damage to property," he said, but declined to give any further details about the indictment.

Brown, based at the US Marines' Camp Courtney in Okinawa, allegedly tried to rape the woman in the early hours of November 2 and smashed her cellular phone.

He met her for the first time that day and asked her to give him a ride. The woman fought off his sexual advances in her car, police said.

Hours after the indictment, Brown was sent to the Naha District Detention Center run by the state-run Okinawa Prison.

"Thanks to the indictment, the suspect was handed over to the Japanese side, marking a major turning point in this case," Okinawan governor Keiichi Inamine said in a statement.

"Okinawa will closely watch his trial while calling for a comprehensive review on the Japan-US agreement," he said, referring to the status of forces agreement that does not require Washington to hand over US military personnel accused of crimes unless they are indicted.

Police in Okinawa obtained a warrant to arrest Brown on December 3, but the United States two days later turned down Tokyo's demand to hand him over.

Under a 1995 accord, the United States should give "full favorable consideration" to Japanese requests to surrender a serviceman who is charged with a serious crime.

The 1995 accord was made in response to Japanese outrage over the gangrape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl by three US servicemen in September that year.

A string of serious crimes by US servicemen based in Okinawa over the years has fuelled local resentment of the heavy military presence.

In March, a 25-year-old US airman was found guilty of raping a Japanese woman in a parking lot in 2001 and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison by the Naha District Court.

Okinawa, 1,600 kilometres (992 miles) south of Tokyo, became the only site of ground combat on Japanese territory during World War II and some two-thirds of the local population were killed in the fighting.

After the war, the island was occupied by the United States until 1972 and is now home to 1.33 million people.

SPACE.WIRE