US soldier hit by gunfire near German barracks

An American soldier was shot and seriously wounded yesterday after he pulled his car off the road in southern Germany to clean ice from the windshield, police said.

The soldier, 26, from the US Army's 1st Infantry was in civilian clothes on his way to the barracks in Schweinfurt, 60 miles east of Frankfurt. He was shot in the left hand and leg. "It looks like a criminal act," Dieter Klein, a police spokes-man, said. "Any reports of a politically motivated attack are pure speculation."

The soldier was able to drive the three miles to his barracks, and had surgery. His injuries are not life-threatening, but police have not yet been able to question him. They have appealed for witnesses.

He was driving a Ford Mustang with US military plates that closely resemble German ones, except for small Nato and American symbols. (AP)