The US embassy in Cairo called Thursday for three Egyptian newspapers to "retract" pictures purporting to show US troops sexually abusing Iraqi women, saying they were fakes taken from a pronographic website.
The embassy slammed the publication of four pictures published Tuesday in the opposition Al-Wafd daily, two of which also appeared in the pro-government magazine Al-Mussawar and the independent Al-Usbu.
"We have done a thorough investigation of the origin of these photos and have conclusive evidence that they originated on a pornographic website," it said.
"They are clearly staged photos, done by actors, as the site itself states."
The pictures were published amid rising anger in the Arab world at revelations, backed up by photographs, that US troops abused male Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail.
"The publication of these pornographic photos, with headlines alleging the involvement of US soldiers, represents a fundamental violation of journalistic integrity," the embassy charged.
"A simple check of the photos' veracity using the Internet would have clearly revealed them to be fake, yet these publications chose not to do so.
"Their publication needlessly inflames an already heated atmosphere. We have asked the head of the Wafd party and the editors of the newspapers for their retraction."
The embassy said all Americans were "appalled and shocked" by the incidents of abuse that took place at Abu Ghraib prison, President George W. Bush said he was disgusted and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice offered Washington's apologies.
"Just as the United States government itself undertook a thorough investigation of these incidents, so will our government bring those found guilty to justice.
There is no excuse for the kind of abuse perpetrated by a small minority at Abu Ghraib," the embassy said.
"However, neither do such abuses justify exacerbating the situation by publishing fake photos and claims designed to raise the emotional temperature even further."