The Filipino driver of the van in which the crime allegedly took place was also named as a primary suspect after he recanted his earlier statement supporting the victim's allegations that she was raped.

Viray said only one of the four actually sexually assaulted the woman, but that the three and the driver provided "moral assistance" in committing the crime.

"Under our criminal law, there can be gang rape in the sense that others were together, encouraging or cooperating with the rape itself. And that is considered rape by all of them," added the woman's lawyer, Katrina Legarda in a separate interview.

The suspects in their affidavit said the woman had consented to have sex with one of the soldiers, identified as Daniel Smith, a claimed challenged by Legarda.

The American troops were part of a contingent that took part in joint military exercises with their Filipino counterparts in Subic, a former US naval base shut down in 1992.

The case has drawn widespread media attention in this former American colony and human rights advocates say it has opened up old wounds caused by past abuses.

It is also seen as a litmus test for the visiting forces agreement, a treaty that grants limited immunity to criminal prosecution to American soldiers taking part in manoeuvres here.

The US embassy in Manila had invoked the treaty in refusing to hand over the suspects, but said diplomats would turn the Marines over to authorities if the four were formally charged.

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