The Pentagon confirmed for the first time on Friday that a US soldier deliberately kicked a Guantanamo Bay prisoner's Muslim holy book in violation of the military's rules for handling the Quran.

In other confirmed incidents, prison guards threw water balloons into a cell block to cause an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet; a guard's urine splashed on a detainee and his Quran; an interrogator stepped on a Quran during an interrogation; and a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran.

The findings are among results of an investigation last month by Brigadier-General Jay Hood, commander of the detention centre in southeastern Cuba, that was triggered by a Newsweek magazine report - later retracted - that a US soldier had flushed a Guantanamo Bay detainee's Quran down a toilet.

The story stirred worldwide controversy, and the Bush administration blamed it for demonstrations in Afghanistan that killed at least 16 people.

Last week, Hood disclosed he had confirmed five cases of mishandling of the Quran, but he refused to provide details.

Five cases

In the incident involving urine, which took place this past March, Southern Command said a guard left his post and urinated near an air vent and "the wind blew his urine through the vent" and into a cell block.

It said a detainee told guards the urine "splashed on him and his Quran." The statement said the detainee was given a new prison uniform and Quran, and that the guard was reprimanded and given duty in which he had no contact with prisoners.

Southern Command said a civilian contractor interrogator, who was later fired, apologised in July 2003 to a detainee for stepping on his Quran.

In August 2003, prisoners' Qurans became wet when night-shift guards threw water balloons in a cell block, the statement said. In February 2002, guards kicked a prisoner's Quran, it added.

In the fifth "confirmed incident" of mishandling a Quran, Southern Command said a prisoner in August 2003 complained that "a two-word obscenity" had been written in English in his Quran.

Southern Command said it was "possible" a guard had written the words but "equally possible" the prisoner himself had done but they did not offer any explanation of his possible motive.

Riots, protests

Allegations of Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay have stirred anti-American passions in many Muslim nations.

Pentagon officials have insisted the problems were relatively minor, and US commanders have gone to great lengths to enable detainees to practice their religion in captivity.

Hood said last week he found no credible evidence a Quran was ever flushed down a toilet. He said a prisoner who was reported to have complained to an FBI agent in 2002 that a military guard threw a Quran in the toilet has since told Hood's investigators that he never witnessed any form of Quran desecration.

PHOTO CAPTION

Tanzanian Muslim protesters chant anti US slogans while holding placards ' Down With America' during a demonstration in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Friday June 3, 2005. (AP Photo)