Joshua Belile, 23, who lives in North Carolina after serving in Iraq, told the Jacksonville Daily News that the expletive-laced song was meant to be humorous.

"It's a song that I made up and it was nothing more than something supposed to be funny, based off a catchy line of a movie," Belile said. The line was from the puppet film "Team America: World Police."

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

The US Marine Corps said in a statement it has opened a preliminary investigation into the incident.

The four-minute video titled "Hadji Girl" shows Belile playing an acoustic guitar on stage, wearing an olive green T-shirt with camouflage pants. The public can be heard laughing but is not seen.

"I grabbed her little sister and put her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally," Belile sang.

"I blew those little f--kers to eternity. ... They should have known they were f--king with the marines."

The video was removed from the Internet video website youtube.com, where it was originally posted.

The largest US Muslim group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), had called for an investigation after drawing attention to the video.

"We welcome Corporal Belile's apology and will leave it to military authorities to determine whether any disciplinary action is warranted," said CAIR executive director Nihad Awad.

"Our intent was never to target an individual marine, but instead to address the larger issue of insensitivity to the suffering of Iraqi civilians," Awad said in a statement.

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