A major Sunni party, led by Iraq's vice president, on Monday demanded tough government action against a US soldier who fired bullets into the Koran. The desecration 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.
According to the AP, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's party said in a statement: "The Iraqi Islamic Party demands that the US administration deal firmly with this desecration and also calls on our government to have a position in keeping with the enormity of this humiliation."
US military authorities in Iraq have apologised to the local community where last week, the soldier fired bullets into the Koran during shooting practice. Major General Jeffrey Hammond, the top commander of US forces in Baghdad, on Saturday met community leaders from Radhwaniya in the capital's western outskirts and offered an apology.
The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq said in a statement: "This heinous crime shows the hatred that the leaders and the members of the occupying force have against the Koran and the (Muslim) people."
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
