Troops operating in Diyala province killed a young Iraqi girl during an “escalation of force incident” that has sparked an official investigation, officials said Thursday. According to a U.S. military news release, the incident took place Wednesday “in an area where [roadside bombs] had been found recently.”

The troops “fired a warning shot into a berm near a suspicious woman who appeared to be signaling to someone while the soldiers were in the area,” the news release read. When the troops approached, they found a young girl behind the berm, suffering from a gunshot wound.

“Soldiers rendered medical attention and immediately called for an emergency evacuation. The girl died en route to a medical facility,” the release read.

“Coalition forces take the loss of any innocent civilian life seriously and the incident will be thoroughly investigated,” Maj. Dan Meyers, a spokesman for Multi-National Division—North, was quoted as saying.