STARS AND STRIPES REPORT ON US SOLDIER USING QURAN FOR TARGET PRACTICE

US military says soldier shot at Quran

By KIM GAMEL Associated Press Writer
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BAGHDAD (AP) -- A soldier used a Quran, the Islamic holy book, for target practice in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad, prompting an apology from the military, a spokesman said Sunday.

Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled Quran with graffiti inside the cover on a small-arms range near a police station in Radwaniyah, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Col. Bill Buckner said.

American commanders then launched an inquiry that led to disciplinary action against the soldier, who has been removed from Iraq, Buckner said.

The action, which happened May 9 and was discovered two days later, threatened to further strain relations between the Americans and Sunni allies who have joined forces with them against al-Qaida in Iraq in Radwaniyah and other areas.

The incident was first reported by CNN, which broadcast a ceremony at which the top American commander in Baghdad apologized to tribal leaders in Radwaniyah. The military confirmed the details in an e-mailed response to a query.

"I come before you here seeking your forgiveness," Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond was quoted as saying. "In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers."

The commander also read a letter of apology by the shooter, and another military official kissed a Quran and presented it to the tribal leaders, according to CNN.

The military statement called the incident "serious and deeply troubling" but stressed it was a result of one soldier's actions and "not representative of the professionalism of our soldiers or the respect they have for all faiths."

Separately, mortar shells slammed into a residential area north of Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 30, most of them children playing outside, officials said Sunday.
The shelling occurred as clashes broke out in Shiite areas late Saturday despite a truce reached last week by Shiite politicians and followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The Sunni alliances have been key to a steep decline in violence over the past year, along with a U.S. troop buildup and a longer term cease-fire by al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.

Bandaged girls and boys with bloodstained clothes cried as they were packed two to a bed at a hospital in Sadr City, a Shiite stronghold where most of the recent fighting has occurred.

At least three mortar rounds struck a house, an open area and a street where boys were playing soccer in the Maamil neighborhood on Baghdad's northeastern outskirts, witnesses said.
Those killed included a man and three children, according to police and hospital officials who also said at least 30 people were wounded.