US soldiers have shot and killed a young Iraqi girl in the volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad, a US military statement says.

The shooting took place Wednesday afternoon in Diyala, said the statement which didn't give the exact location.

The girl appeared to be around 10, Maj. Brad Leighton, a military spokesman said early Thursday.

Leighton said preliminary reports indicated that soldiers didn't believe the girl posed a threat of being a suicide bomber, but rather "they were afraid she was signaling to someone" along a stretch of road "the convoy was going by," where roadside bombs had recently been found.

MHE/RA