A bloody melee erupted Wednesday morning at an Iraqi-run prison after an inmate grabbed an officer's gun and began shooting, leaving up to 10 people dead and a dozen wounded.

Iraqi security officials said that four officers, five prisoners and an interpreter were killed at the facility in northern Baghdad, and that a U.S. soldier — probably one of the American personnel often placed at Iraqi military and police posts — was among the wounded. Officials also said that a group of prisoners attempted to make a jailbreak in the ensuing chaos but failed.

The violence came amid continuing sectarian tensions over the results of the country's Dec. 15 parliamentary election.