TOKYO Japanese police on Friday arrested a U.S. airman on suspicion of raping a woman in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, news reports said.

Okinawa Police Department arrested U.S. Air Force staff Sergeant Timothy Woodland, 24, stationed at Kadena air base in central Okinawa, Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) and Jiji Press news agency said.

The rape allegedly took place before dawn last Friday in the parking lot of the American village, a shopping and amusement center outside the sprawling Kadena military base, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) north of Okinawa's capital Naha.

His arrest came hours after U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker said in Tokyo the United States had agreed to the move after being assured the suspect would be treated fairly.

Okinawa police obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect on Monday, and had requested the United States to turn him over to the police.

Under the status of forces agreement governing the presence of the U.S. Military in Japan, commanders do not have to surrender servicemen suspected of crimes until prosecutors indict them.

Washington has however agreed to give "sympathetic consideration" to any request by Japan for a handover of personnel suspected of serious crimes such as rape or murder.

This arrangement was the result of the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three U.S. servicemen, which sparked mass anti-U.S. demonstrations in Okinawa.