Two U.S. Navy petty officers are in custody in Okinawa in the alleged sexual assault and robbery of a Japanese woman in an incident that could further inflame anti-American sentiment on the strategic Japanese island.

The two sailors followed a 27-year-old woman to her apartment complex where they allegedly raped and robbed her in the parking lot about 4 a.m. Tuesday, authorities in Japan said.  A third sailor who reportedly witnessed the assault was taken into custody by Japanese police and later released to the U.S. Navy, according to NBC News.

The sailors were identified as Seaman Christopher Browning and Petty Officer 3rd Class Skyler Dozierwalker, both 23, of the Fort Worth Naval Air Station in Texas, The Associated Press reported.

According to Japan broadcaster NHK World, the woman told police that she was walking home when she was attacked. She said she did not know the men. She suffered a neck injury.

Under the terms of a Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Japan, Japanese authorities have jurisdiction and the authority to charge and bring the accused to trial. If convicted, the men could also be imprisoned by the Japanese.

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The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, is conducting a parallel investigation alongside the Japanese in the event the two accused are released to U.S. Navy custody.

The two sailors in custody were on overnight leave and crewmembers on a U.S. Navy cargo plane that was in Okinawa for only a day or two while on a delivery mission, officials told NBC News.

Okinawa prefecture spokesman Susumu Matayoshi said the alleged rape “shocked all Okinawans and is unforgivable,” the AP reported.

Vice Foreign Minister Shuji Kira lodged a protest with U.S. Ambassador John Roos, who promised full cooperation with the investigation, according to the AP.

Okinawa hosts more than half of the nearly 50,000 American troops in Japan. Local opposition to the U.S. bases over noise, safety concerns and crime flared into mass protests after the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three American servicemen.

Many Japanese want to see the U.S. airbase moved off the island chain.

NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski contributed to this report.

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U.S. Navy

A dhow flying an Iranian flag is seen burning in the Gulf of Oman. The USS James E. Williams assisted 10 Iranian mariners who had to abandon their burning vessel.

The U.S. Navy is taking care of 10 mariners it rescued from a burning Iranian-flagged dhow in the Gulf of Oman, officials say.

The 10, all claiming to be Iranian, were rescued Wednesday by the USS James E. Williams guided-missile destroyer, Lt. Greg Raelson, spokesman for the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain, told NBC News.

The 10 received initial medical treatment on the destroyer for injuries sustained in the fire and additional treatment on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise before being returned to the Williams, where Thursday they were awaiting repatriation, Raelson said. Details of the injuries were not available.

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Wednesday's rescue is at least the seventh involving Iranian sailors in nearly two years, The Associated Press reported. The gulf is a strategic waterway the Iranian government has threatened to close in retaliation for sanctions over its nuclear program.

“U.S. Navy ships aid mariners in distress regardless of nationality,” Raelson told NBC News. “Responding to the needs of fellow mariners is part of our ethos.”

The James E. Williams is deployed as part of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. 5th Fleet.

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