U.S. President Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for an American sniper's using a copy of the Koran for target practice, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Tuesday.

During a regularly scheduled videoconference on Monday, Bush expressed his "serious concern" over the incident, Perino said.

"He told the prime minister that we take this matter seriously, and he noted that the soldier had been reprimanded and removed from Iraq by his commanders," Perino said.

Local mass media quoted the U.S. military as reporting Sunday that the U.S. soldier has been disciplined and ordered from Iraq after he was found to have used Islam's holy book for target practice on May 9.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2008)