10:28pm UK, Saturday September 20, 2003

An American soldier has shot and killed a rare Bengal tiger in Baghdad Zoo during an apparently drunken party.

"The soldiers arrived in the evening with food and beer, accompanied by a group of Iraqi police officers," said zoo official Adel Musa.

A Bengal Tiger like this died

One of the soldiers, who Iraqi police said had drunk a lot, went into the cage against the advice of his colleagues and tried to feed the animal.

The tiger tore off one of the soldier's fingers and mauled his arm.

One of the other soldiers immediately fired at the animal and killed it.

"The soldiers don't have the right to behave like that," said Mr Musa.

"That was the most precious and valuable animal in the whole zoo. It was 14 years old and had been born here."

Mr Musa said US soldiers often held parties in the zoo in the evenings. "We have no way of stopping them," he said.

US Sergeant Mark Ingham confirmed an American soldier had killed the tiger and said the incident was being investigated.

Baghdad Zoo reopened to the public in July. It houses 44 animals other than the prized tiger.

Most of them came from the palaces of deposed leader Saddam Hussein and his late son Uday, who was a lover of big cats.

A number of its animals were stolen in the confusion that followed the US-led war.

Most were killed for food or were stuffed and sold.