A US soldier approached a street vendor to buy digital video discs on the main street near the Imam al-Kazim mosque in the al-Kazimiyah neighborhood in northwest Baghdad at around 11:00 am (0700 GMT), witnesses said.

"We heard a shot and then we saw the soldier falling on his back," Haidar Awwad, a 28-year-old owner of a nearby candy store, told AFP.

"US troops who were on a military vehicle parked not too far from there rushed immediately to take him away," said Awwad, adding: "We were not sure if he was killed."

"The soldier was buying American movies when we heard a loud bang. The soldier fell backward, but we all ran away because we were afraid that US troops would start shooting," said Ahmad Kassem, 24.

Kassem, an incense street vendor, said: "I think he was shot at close range, but the street is very crowded and it all happened so quickly that it was difficult to see who shot him."

"Two of his comrades came up immediately and took him away, so we did not know if he died," he said.

A Pentagon official, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity, said "a soldier was shot in the face in Baghdad." He did not give details about his condition.

The shooting came amid a flurry of deadly attacks on US and British troops that have raised concerns about an intensifying resistance to the US-led occupation here.

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WAR.WIRE