TOKYO Deputy Foreign Minister Yutaka Kawashima summoned U.S. Charge d'Affaires Richard Christianson late on Monday to demand the U.S. military hand over to police a U.S. airman suspected in the rape of a Japanese woman, officials said.

After a fourth day of questioning, police were convinced, based on witness accounts, that the 24-year-old airman raped the woman in a parking lot near a bar quarter of the town of Chatan on southern Okinawa island, Kyodo quoted police as saying.

An Okinawa court issued the arrest warrant after police said they found the man's fingerprints on a car at the crime scene along with the prints of the woman. His identity has not been released.

Friday's rape could trigger yet more anti-forces sentiment in Okinawa, already angry over a string of crimes, including several sexual attacks, by U.S. servicemen since the 1995 gang-rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl.

Meanwhile, AFP said police were poised Tuesday to arrest the airman amid mounting demands for the closure of U.S. military bases in Japan.

"We are waiting for permission (to arrest) from the U.S. government. We are all set," said an Okinawan police officer in charge of investigating the rape allegation, who declined to be named.

Okinawa police Monday obtained an arrest warrant for the U.S. airman identified as air force technical sergeant Timothy Woodland from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

Tokyo asked Washington to hand over Woodland to the Japanese authorities as under the agreement governing the U.S. military's presence in Okinawa the U.S. garrison does not have to surrender servicemen suspected of crimes until prosecutors indict them.

It has reignited anger at the heavy U.S. military presence in the island home to 25,200 of the 51,500 U.S. troops in Japan.

The rape by three U.S. servicemen of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl in 1995 sparked outrage and a mass demonstration by 85,000 people.

"Unless the U.S. military leaves Okinawa and Japan for good, we will keep witnessing the same type of crimes over and over," said Suzuyo Takazato, chairman of the Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence Pressure Group.

About 120 people took part in a 30-minute protest outside Kadena Airbase shouting "Protest Against Rape in Okinawa. We Demand the U.S. Forces Withdraw from Japan."

The top U.S. Military Commander in Japan, Lt. General Earl Hailston, visited the Okinawa prefectural government Tuesday and apologized for the alleged rape.