A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division of the United States was sentenced to death Thursday night for a fatal grenade attack on his fellow soldiers days before the invasion of Iraq.

A military jury at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, gave Sergeant Hasan Akbar the death penalty for killing two officers and wounding 14 others in Kuwait in 2003.

The 15-person jury deliberated seven hours before returning the sentence. The same jury last week convicted Akbar of two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted premeditated murder.

Earlier Thursday, Akbar, 34, apologized for his action in a brief statement to the court.

Akbar threw grenades into troop tents at his Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait in an early March morning and then fired on soldiers in the ensuing chaos. Prosecutors said the attack was driven by Akbar 's religious extremism.

Source: Xinhua