The Associated Press today issued a corrective to its subscribers regarding a report which wrongly quoted Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as saying that the United States and Britain should attack Israel.

The Monday report had irked the Prime Minister's Department who immediately demanded an apology from the news agency.

When contacted, AP's Malaysian bureau news editor Rohan Sullivan said the agency has "filed a corrective" to "correct the inaccuracy in the Oct 8 report".

However, he declined to clarify if an apology was extended beyond saying that "the corrective speaks for itself."

A check by malaysiakini later revealed that AP in its online corrective conceded to quoting Mahathir "out of context".

"When Mahathir said he would have supported the attacks if they had hit Israel as the perpetrator of terrorism against the Palestinians, he was referring to the terrorist attackers who struck the US on Sept 11, not to US and British forces," said the news agency.

'Mischievous reporting'

AP's earlier report had quoted the premier as saying in parliament, "I would support them if they wanted to take terrorist action against Israel because Israel had shot dead many Palestinians."

Following this, the PM's office lambasted the agency for its "incorrect and mischievous" reporting, stressing that Mahathir did not advise the alliance to attack Israel.

Meanwhile, the Hansard official translation indicated that Mahathir was actually making a reference to those who launched the terrorist attacks on the US.

"Those who were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center building included many foreigners who had nothing to do with the terrorist acts committed by the Israeli authorities."

"Therefore, if they wanted to take action, they should pick on those who had acted against them, and I would support them if they had committed these terrorist acts against Israel because Israel had killed many Palestinians," the premier had said.

Since the Sept 11 attacks, the Malaysian government has taken a stand to combat terrorism with the international community but has stressed that it does not approve a military strike against Afghanistan either.