KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia and Montenegero (Reuters) - A dispute over Iraq (news - web sites) led to a shootout on Saturday in the Kosovo town of Mitrovica between several American and one Pakistani U.N. police officers in which several officers were wounded and some may have died, U.N. police sources said.

Another report said Jordanian police were involved in the shooting, which broke out at a prison in the U.N. compound in the northern Kosovo town.

"This afternoon at the Mitrovica detention center there was a shooting incident involving international policemen," U.N. police spokesman Neeraj Singh told Reuters.

"Some international police officers were injured...there may be fatalities," he added.

The deputy director at the health center in Mitrovica, Milan Ivanovic, told reporters a female American officer, critically injured in the shootout, had died. He said he was treating several other prison officers for gunshot wounds.

Singh declined to give the number of injured, or of any dead or to disclose the nationalities involved. Asked about the cause of the incident, Singh said: "That is a matter of investigation ...and the situation now is stable and under control."

Media reports citing a variety of sources said up to four U.N. police officers may have been killed. One report said two lay covered by white sheets inside the U.N. compound.

A Reuters witness close to the scene saw a female U.S. police officer lying motionless on the ground, covered by a coat.

(Additional reporting by Branislav Krstic)