By IINA,
Baghdad : US President George W. Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki over the shooting of a Quran by an American soldier near Baghdad, state television announced today. The prime minister received an apology from US President George W. Bush on the incident of shooting of a Quran by a US soldier,” Al-Iraqia television said. US military authorities in Iraq have apologized to the local community west of Baghdad where the staff sergeant fired at the Koran during shooting practice on May 11. The unidentified soldier, who pumped bullets into the Muslim holy book and wrote an expletive inside, has since been expelled from his unit and sent home, AFP reported. The American military described the incident as “as both serious and deeply troubling,” but stressed it was an “isolated incident and a result of one soldier’s actions.”
On Saturday, the top US commander for Baghdad, Major General Jeffrey Hammond met with local leaders, issuing an apology and promising strict disciplinary action against the offender.
However, the Sunni Muslim Iraqi Islamic Party headed by Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi yesterday demanded government action against the soldier. The desecration of the Quran was also strongly condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars, which claims to represent more than 3,000 mosques, and which held both the US military and Iraqi government responsible. It said the “heinous crime shows the hatred” that the US military and American leaders had for the Koran and the Muslim people. There has been no immediate reaction from Maliki government but the American soldier has already been removed from Iraq and apologised for his actions, according to the US military.