NBC News blamed American officials for a flubbed report Tuesday night claiming the chief judge overseeing the trial of Saddam Hussein had been assassinated by Iraqi gunmen.

“It’s very straightforward,” an NBC News spokeswoman says. “We got the information from multiple, high-level sources who confirmed the story’s accuracy.

“It was wrong, and we corrected it immediately.”

With the report, anchor Brian Williams joins the list of major network news stars who have been caught up in broadcasting false information in recent months.

Williams and correspondent Jim Miklaszewski corrected the assassination mistake on the “Nightly News” last night for viewers on the East Coast who were not able to see the initial correction.

“Earlier, there was some confusing reports coming out of Baghdad, and U.S. officials told NBC News – and we reported – that the initial target of the assassination attempt was Raid Juhi,” said Miklaszewski in Tuesday’s on-air correction.

Juhi is the chief administration judge who was in fact seen in Saddam Hussein’s initial court appearance last July.

“Juhi had been the target of several assassination attempts, and was under heavy armed guard. But tonight, administration officials tell NBC News that the judge apparently killed earlier today was actually Barbweez Mahmood and his son,” said Miklaszewski.

Since last fall, embattled CBS News anchor Dan Rather has famously been at the center of a botched “60 Minutes” report that questioned George W. Bush’s military record.