Soldier apologises for 'joke' about killing Iraqis

A US Marine who appeared in a video singing about killing Iraqis has apologised, saying he wrote the song as a "joke".

Corporal Joshua Belile, 23, said his performance was not linked in any way to allegations that Marines killed more than 20 unarmed civilians in Haditha last year.

The song, called "Hadji Girl", tells the story of a Marine who falls in love with an Iraqi girl and is taken to meet her family.

When her family shoots her and then attacks the Marine, he uses her younger sister as a shield and watches blood spray from her head.

Cpl Belile, who appears in front of a cheering audience in the four-minute video posted on the internet, then sings about blowing the father and brother "to eternity".

The Marine Corps has branded the video "inappropriate" and is looking into the incident.

"It's a song that I made up and it was nothing more than something supposed to be funny, based on a catchy line of a movie," he told The Daily News of Jacksonville.

"I apologise for any feelings that may have been hurt in the Muslim community. This song was written in good humour and not aimed at any party, foreign or domestic."

Cpl Belile said he wrote the song in September while in Iraq, and that his friends enjoyed it and pushed him on stage with his guitar.

"This is in no way, shape or form related to the events that happened at Haditha," he said.

"The song was written long before the events happened. The song reflects nobody's viewpoint. It's completely made up. It's completely fictional."

Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the video should be investigated by the Pentagon and Congress.