US soldier riddles Quran with bullets in Iraq

An American soldier has been disciplined and ordered from Iraq, the US military said yesterday, for using a copy of the Quran for target practice at a shooting range near Baghdad.

Such an act of desecration of the Muslim holy book could inflame anger against the US military presence in Iraq, but an Iraqi community leader said an apology by senior American military commanders had helped calm tensions.

Saeed al-Zubaie, head of a US-allied Sunni Arab tribal council in the area where the Quran was found, said the book had been used as target practice. It was peppered with 14 bullet holes and offensive language had been scrawled inside, he said.