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TOKYO, Nov 16, 2007 (AFP) - Japanese prosecutors said Friday they had dropped a case against four US Marines accused by a young woman of gang rape.
The 19-year-old woman had alleged the Marines raped her in a car and stole money from her after she met them in the western city of Hiroshima last month.
"We have decided not to charge them," a spokesman for prosecutors said.
He declined further comment, but Japanese media quoted anonymous sources saying investigators found inconsistencies in the woman's account.
Police earlier declined to seek the arrests of the Marines, aged between 19 and 38, via diplomatic agreements concerning the more than 40,000 US troops based in Japan.
However the Marines were still under investigation at Iwakuni base south of Hiroshima and could face disciplinary action, said Master Sergeant Terence Peck, spokesman for US forces in Japan.
The US stations troops in Japan under a security alliance with the country, which has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II.
There has been frequent friction between troops and residents who accuse them of causing crime and noise.
Relations are particularly tense on the southern island of Okinawa, where about half the US forces are stationed. Thousands took to the streets after three US servicemen in Okinawa raped a 12-year-old Japanese girl in 1995.
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