"The employee was fatally shot in Baghdad while driving a vehicle that was escorted by military personnel", KBR said in a statement.

In Baquba, a 13-year-old youth, Omar Saad Jassem, was accidentally killed late Thursday after American troops opened fire and missed their target, his father told AFP yesterday.

"At 2145 (1745 GMT) an American unit was chasing and opening fire on an individual who was riding a motorbike, and fatally wounded Omar who was nearby," the boy's father Saad Jassem said.

The adolescent was ferried from Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, by an American helicopter to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

American troops have faced consistent attacks in the regions, which is populated by Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

US military spokesman Anthony Reinoso said there was one incident in Baquba late Thursday involving a makeshift bomb and an Iraqi who opened fire with an AK47 injuring one US soldier.

He had no information on the report of the dead youth.