US military 'holds Japan suspect'

The US military in Japan is holding a sailor sought in connection with the murder of a taxi driver, reports say.

The Kyodo news agency reports that the man in his 20s was found near the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo.

A US military spokesman confirmed that a "deserter" had been found, but would not comment further.

Local media said a credit card belonging to a sailor was discovered in the taxi where Masaaki Takahashi, 61, was found with stab wounds in his neck.

There are about 50,000 US personnel in Japan, and the relationship with the local population is often uneasy.

A number of criminal allegations have been made against servicemen in recent years.

Most recently, a US marine was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl. The case triggered protests on the island of Okinawa but was later dropped.

Japanese media reported that the serviceman sought in connection with Wednesday's murder had been missing from the Yokosuka base for several weeks.

Commander David Waterman, spokesman for Commander US Naval Forces Japan, told the Associated Press that "a deserter" had been caught, but would not confirm whether he was a suspect in the murder case.