The unidentified soldier was disciplined after Iraqi police discovered the Quran, the Muslim holy book, with bullet holes and graffiti inside its cover last week at a firing range west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Major General Jeffrey Hammond, the top commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, met community leaders from Radhwaniya in the capital's western outskirts and issued a "formal apology," the CNN network said.


"I come before you here seeking your forgiveness," Hammond told tribal leaders on Saturday. "In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers."

Another military official kissed a Quran and presented it as "a humble gift" to the tribal leaders during an "apology ceremony," CNN said, adding that the soldier had also apologized.

"I sincerely hope that my actions have not diminished the partnership that our two nations have developed together," Hammond said, quoting from a letter written by the soldier.

"My actions were short-sighted, very reckless and irresponsible, but in my heart (was not) malicious," the soldier was quoted as saying.


Agencies