Monday, May 16 2005 10:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Newsweek magazine has apologised for a report in its edition on the desecration of Quran by American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay detention centre saying it might have erred in reporting the incident that triggered protests across the Muslim world.

"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong and extend our sympathies to victims of violence and to the US soldiers caught in its midst," Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said in a note to readers.

The publication of the article in the May 9 issue of the magazine provoked protests and left at least 17 people dead in violence in Afghanistan.

Another article in the magazine said, "The spark was apparently lit at a press conference held on Friday (May 6, 2005) by Imran Khan, a Pakistani cricket legend and strident critic of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

"Brandishing a copy of that week's Newsweek (May 9), Khan read a report that US interrogators at Guantanamo prison had placed the Quran on toilet seats and even flushed one."

"This is what the US is doing," Khan was quoted as saying, "desecrating the Quran".

His remarks, as well as the outraged comments of Muslim clerics and Pakistani Government officials, were picked up on local radio and played throughout neighbouring Afghanistan.

Whitaker wrote the magazine's information came from "a knowledgeable US Government source", and before publishing the story, writers Michael Isikoff and John Barry sought comment from two Defence Department officials.

One declined to respond, and the other did not dispute the Quran charge, he said.