WASHINGTON: American President has apologized after a US soldier riddled a copy of Holy Quran with bullets near Baghdad, the White House said Tuesday.

Talking to reporters, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said: George W. Bush "apologized for that in the sense that he said we take it very seriously."

"We were concerned about their reaction, we wanted them to know that the president knew that this was wrong, and that the commanders in the field had publicly reprimanded the soldier and removed him from Iraq," she added.

Bush "was glad that our military took immediate action."

Earlier Tuesday Maliki's office said in a statement that the Iraqi leader "expressed resentment and anger of the people and the government of Iraq and the American president George W. Bush apologized to the Iraqi people."

It said Bush had promised to send to trial the offending staff sergeant, who has since been expelled from his unit in Iraq and sent home to face disciplinary action over the March 11 incident west of Baghdad.