The U.S. Army sergeant accused of killing two officers and wounding 14 soldiers by throwing three grenades into a tent in Kuwait, has told his mother that he was relentlessly humiliated about his Islamic faith by three superior officers, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Sgt. Asan Akbar said fellow soldiers referred to him as a 'rag head' after his deployment to Kuwait. He claimed he was ''provoked and harassed'' and made to feel like the enemy rather than an American soldier.

''If they hadn't done what they done, and said what they said, this never would have happened,'' said Akbar's mother, Quran Bilal.

Akbar reportedly told her how his unit ''turned against him'' in Kuwait and that he broke under the pressure of religious persecution. ''I think he went temporarily insane and didn't even know it,'' Bilal said.

Military authorities declined to address the army engineer's allegations of harassment. However, a spokesman for the Army's 101st Airborne Division suggested supervising officers experienced problems with Akbar in the past. Other military officials said shortly after the attacks that Akbar had ''an attitude problem'' and his motive ''most likely was resentment.''

As WorldNetDaily reported, the black Muslim convert studied Islam at a Saudi-funded mosque in Los Angeles.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia pledged between $7 million and $8 million to build a new mosque at the site of the Masjid Bilal Islamic Center, the large black mosque in South Central Los Angeles, according to Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Jane Idleman Smith, authors of "Muslim Communities in North America."

Akbar, 32, was working as a night sentinel on March 23 at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait when the attack occurred.

Military officials are expected to seek the death penalty at court-martial proceedings against Akbar. Those proceedings are on hold, although under military law he is entitled to a hearing within 30 days of arrest. Authorities cite the war as a factor in delaying the hearing.

Of the 1.4 million active-duty U.S. forces, approximately 4,200 are declared Muslims, an estimated 6,000 are undeclared.

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