Military examining Iraqi shooting

BAGHDAD, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. military in Baghdad Wednesday said it was working on updates to an investigation into the shooting of American troops by an Iraqi soldier in Mosul.

An Iraqi soldier hiding out in a military compound in Mosul opened fire on American troops Nov. 12, killing at least two and wounded six others in the attack. U.S. forces responded, killing the Iraqi.

Col. Bill Buckner, a spokesman for Multi-National Corps-Iraq, which is headquartered in Baghdad, said the incident was an isolated event and U.S. forces have been on patrol with their Iraqi counterparts for some time.

"This attack is believed at this time to have been conducted by a lone Iraqi soldier," he said. "The other (Iraqi army) soldiers in the area immediately came to the assistance of the (coalition forces) and provided medical evacuation."

Representatives from Multi-National Forces-Iraq told United Press International in response to e-mail queries Wednesday that additional information on the incident was limited due to ongoing investigations into the matter.

The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq, a dissident clerical group supporting the Iraqi insurgency, issued a statement on its Web site in response to the incident, praising the "heroic" deed by the Iraqi soldier.

The AMSI said the Iraqi soldier fired on American soldiers because they had violated the personal privacy of an Iraqi girl in public, though those claims could not be independently verified.