Iraqis say Americans shot woman without warning

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An Iraqi TV employee who was shot and critically wounded on New Year's Day said the U.S. soldiers who fired at her gave no warning, her supervisor said Saturday.

Hadil Emad, a videotape editor with Beladi Satellite TV, was crossing a bridge over the Tigris River on her way to work when she was shot, the channel's editor-in-chief, Assam Sada, told CNN. He said Emad told him she heard no warning from the soldiers.

The U.S. military said in a statement the woman was acting suspiciously and failed to respond to warnings before she was shot.

"We condemn this criminal act and demand an explanation from the U.S. military," said Saied Abdul Hadi, the director of Beladi's news department.

The U.S. military said it is investigating the incident, which happened just outside the Green Zone, two hours after the United States handed authority of the zone to Iraq. Watch why the transfer is a milestone »

The bullet that hit Emad, 31, entered the lower half of her body, Sada said. The hospital removed her left kidney after the shooting and she remains in unstable condition, with damage to part of her liver and the lower part of her lung, he said.

U.S. soldiers left Emad on the ground after they shot her, Hadi said, but minutes later Iraqi security forces picked her up and took her to a hospital.

Emad was shot on the al-Jadriya Bridge that connects Baghdad's Karrada district, on a peninsula that juts out into the Tigris, within the western part of the city, Beladi TV and the U.S. military said.

The soldiers "followed approved defensive measures after the woman failed to heed repeated warnings by both Iraqi police and [U.S.] soldiers," the U.S. military said.

"The Iraqi police and soldiers observed the woman acting erratically. Concerned by the danger she might present to the security forces and civilians, given her repeated failure to respond to warnings, [U.S.] soldiers fired two rounds, wounding the woman."

The military said the area had been the target of car bombs and suicide bombings. The shooting happened while the U.S. and Iraqi forces were on a joint patrol, Beladi and the military said.

"Hadil Emad walks every day to work using the same road, but all of a sudden there was a U.S. patrol," Hadi said.

Emad got married a week ago, Hadi said.

Beladi TV broadcast footage of Emad in the hospital and posted a picture of her on its Web site.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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