U.S. military commanders have apologized to community leaders in Iraq after an American soldier used a copy of the Koran for shooting practice, moving quickly to calm anger among U.S.-allied tribesmen.

Bloody protests have sometimes been held across the Muslim world when the Islamic faith has been insulted.

The swift apology by the U.S. commanders appeared aimed at avoiding similar violence in Iraq.

The U.S. military said on Sunday the soldier, who was not identified, had been disciplined and ordered to leave Iraq after a copy of the Muslim holy book was found riddled with bullet holes at a shooting range near Baghdad on May 11.

The incident is deeply embarrassing for the U.S. military, which has been working hard to forge alliances with Sunni Arab tribes to fight al Qaeda in Iraq. It has credited such alliances with helping to sharply reduce violence in the country.

An Iraqi community leader told Reuters the apology by senior American military commanders had helped calm tensions.

Saeed al-Zubaie, head of a U.S.-allied Sunni Arab tribal council in the Radwaniya area near Baghdad where the Koran was found, said the book had been peppered with 14 bullet holes and offensive language had been scrawled inside.

"I was feeling bitterness, but as long as they apologized we are OK with them. Our anger has cooled," said Zubaie, adding that Sunni Arab tribal units who work alongside U.S. forces in the area had threatened to quit unless the military took action.

The U.S. television news network CNN said Major-General Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. troops in Baghdad, and other officers were met by hundreds of protesters when they went to Radwaniya to deliver the apology.

"I am a man of honor, I am a man of character. You have my word this will never happen again," Hammond told the crowd, CNN reported.

Colonel Bill Buckner, a U.S. military spokesman described the shooting incident as "serious and deeply troubling".

The U.S. military relies heavily on Sunni Arab tribes as part of its strategy to crush al Qaeda, the Sunni Islamist group it blames for most major suicide bombings in Iraq.

BUSH PRAISES IRAQI LEADERS

The Iraqi military said an offensive against al Qaeda in its last urban stronghold in the northern city of Mosul had forced some militants to flee into the surrounding Nineveh province and across the porous border Iraq shares with Syria.

"They're trying to escape because they do not have the ability to confront us," Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said on Sunday.

Previous U.S. and Iraqi offensives against al Qaeda have failed to deal a knockout blow to the group, with its militants preferring to escape to fight another day rather than battling troops backed by amour and warplanes.

U.S. President George W. Bush on Sunday praised Iraqi leaders for their efforts to improve security but repeated Washington's mantra that more work needed to be done.

I told them that I'm impressed by the progress that is taking place, security progress," Bush said.

He was speaking after meeting Iraq's Vice President, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, and Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

"We also talked about the fact that more work needs to be done, there's still problems," Bush said, adding that they had also discussed the success of the Iraqi government offensive against Shi'ite militias in the southern oil city of Basra.

Iraqi troops, backed by U.S. forces, gradually took control of Basra, but fighting spread to Baghdad, with security forces fighting daily gunbattles with militiamen claiming allegiance to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's political bloc agreed a truce with Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance a week ago.

Sporadic clashes, however, have continued. Fighting between security forces and gunmen in the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City killed four people and wounded 38 overnight, police and hospital sources said.

A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, said U.S. forces killed three militants in southern Sadr City after coming under fire, but he knew of no other casualties. The slum was largely quiet on Sunday, he said.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Holy Quran

Rueters