ISTANBUL

Nine US soldiers were detained last week in the southern Okinawa prefecture on various violations, the Okinawa Times reported Wednesday.

The Marines were detained during a joint US-Japan patrol early Saturday.

Three were detained on suspicion of "violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice."

The soldiers were later released to their unit representatives.

US forces and Japanese police held a joint patrol in the province for the first time since 1974 on April 18 to prevent sexual crimes involving US soldiers.

The patrols have since continued.

Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 22, was sentenced in June to seven years in prison on sexual assault charges in Okinawa.

Last December, a member of the US Air Force stationed in Japan was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 16 in 2023.

Okinawa hosts 31 US-exclusive military facilities, accounting for 70.3% of such sites in Japan in terms of land area. The island is home to roughly half of the 50,000 US troops deployed in the country under a security pact.

There have been numerous sexual assault cases involving US servicemembers in Japan, prompting public outrage and renewed calls for stricter oversight.