A Mobile police officer injured Friday morning shot himself in the leg while fighting off a dog attack, police officials said Friday afternoon.

"We do know that it is a self-inflicted wound," Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste said Friday afternoon. The injury was not severe, he said, confirming reports that at least one dog had been killed in the fight.

Battiste said the incident occurred as police were conducting Operation Winter Storm, a sweep for people with outstanding drug warrants. Overall, Battiste said, police had made 11 arrests so far in conjunction with the campaign.

Officers had gone to a house in a neighborhood north of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. outside downtown, when they were attacked by one or more pit bulls.

Battiste said police would investigate to see if proper procedures had been followed. "In this case the officer felt like his life was threatened," he said of the injured officer.

Battiste said that no arrests were made at the residence at that time, but confirmed that several other dogs were taken away by animal control.