BAGHDAD - An Iraqi soldier shot dead at least two U.S. troops Wednesday at a joint security station where Iraqi and American forces operate side by side in volatile Nineveh province, Iraqi police and a mortuary official said.

The U.S. military confirmed that some U.S. troops had been "casualties" in the Nineveh incident.

"Unfortunately, we took casualties. … Given that these are U.S. soldiers we don’t want to give too many details until the families have been notified," said U.S. military spokesman Staff Sgt. Sam Smith.

"The identity of the shooter is still under investigation," Smith said. A mortuary reported that it had received the body of an Iraqi soldier killed by U.S. troops in the northern town of Zenjili. Police said the man was killed in the firefight.

Two local police sources and an Iraqi army source, all of whom declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, told Reuters that the shooting had happened after a quarrel broke out at the joint station.

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