2 U.S. servicemen in Okinawa detained over curfew violation

TOKYO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. Air Force personnel based in Japan's southern prefecture of Okinawa were detained for violating a midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew imposed following the arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of robbing and murdering a Japanese woman, Kyodo News reported Wednesday, citing the U.S. military.

The two were held on Sunday in Okinawa City during a joint patrol by U.S. military police, the Okinawa prefectural police and local volunteers.

The U.S. military imposed the one-month curfew starting last Friday after Devin Ballard, a 20-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Okinawa, was arrested on Oct. 4 on suspicion of killing a 39-year-old local woman and stealing her wallet and other belongings at a hotel in the prefectural capital of Naha. The case has sparked fierce outrage in Okinawa.