1st female UK soldier dies in Iraq
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The first female British soldier has died in Iraq, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Staff Sgt. Denise Michelle Rose of the Royal Military Police's Special Investigation Branch "was found dead from a gunshot wound at the Army base in the Shatt-al-Arab Hotel" in the southern port city of Basra on Sunday.
While the incident is being probed, it is "not thought to have been the result of hostile action." The number of British military deaths in the war now total 70.
Rose -- age 34 and from Liverpool -- joined the military police in 1989 and trained as a Special Investigation Branch investigator in 1995.
In September, she "deployed as a volunteer" in Iraq, part of a team of specialist investigators.
Lt. Col. Robert Silk, commanding officer of the investigation branch based in Germany, on Tuesday called the death "a terrible shock for all her many comrades in the unit. She was doing so well in the Army, and had a bright future in front of her.
"Even more importantly, Denise had a multitude of friends, being universally popular, intelligent and ever cheerful. Her death is a tragic loss."
The death came two days after hundreds of British soldiers were deployed to provide cover for U.S. troops at a base near Baghdad. (Full story)
The bulk of Britain's 8,500 troops in Iraq -- the second-largest foreign contingent -- are based around Basra.
Producer Katie Turner contributed to this report
