Tuesday's violence, which also saw two US soldiers wounded in a grenade attack, and a firefight in Baghdad two days earlier involving American soldiers, were a stark reminder that despite Washington's claim of a move to "stability operations," its forces in Iraq remain at risk.

The gunman, enlisted man Soran Rahman Saleh Wali, opened fire on his US comrades who were visiting the Al-Saadiq Air Base near the town of Tuz Khurmatu in Salaheddin province, killing the two Americans and wounding nine others.

Security officials said Wali shot them after an argument erupted, but there were no details on what sparked the row or on his motives.

Defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari had initially told AFP the quarrel was over a sports match, but he later retracted those remarks and said it was unclear why it occurred.

"Marwan, Soran's brother, who works as a policeman in Tuz Khurmatu, was arrested yesterday by police forces and is now being held," a police colonel in the town told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Iraqi and US joint forces also raided Soran's house overnight, but did not find anyone there." The US military said it was not involved in the raid.

The colonel said Wali's corpse, which was moved from Kirkuk mortuary to Tuz Khurmatu hospital for further tests, had sustained nine gun shots, including to the head and abdomen.

US and Iraqi military officials said they had opened investigations into the shooting.

"A preliminary review of reports from the scene indicates the attack was a deliberate act," the US military said in a statement. "The detailed investigation will clarify the facts and actions of all involved."

Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan, spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said that while the incident was "tragic", it did not "affect our strong commitment to the mission of advising and assisting the Iraqi security forces."

"We stand firmly beside them," he added.

Tuz Khurmatu police commander Colonel Hussein Bayati said that on Monday, US and Iraqi forces "began searching houses in the neighbourhood where this soldier was from, because they suspected Ansar al-Sunna (insurgent) fighters were hiding there."

It was unclear if Wali might already have been under surveillance or if the sweep had angered him.

The shooter's immediate family declined to speak to AFP.

But his cousin and neighbour Abu Shwan said he was "a moderate in his religious views, and he was not strict in his beliefs."

Also on Tuesday, a grenade attack on a US military convoy in the Salaheddin provincial capital Tikrit wounded two American soldiers and four Iraqi civilians, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Allen said.

"A convoy returning from a PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) support mission was attacked by what we believe to be two assailants with hand grenades," Allen said.

"One of the attackers was killed as a result, but the grenades exploded, wounding four Iraqi civilians who were in the area... Two soldiers were also wounded in the attack but both were treated for their wounds."

Under the terms of a bilateral security pact, US soldiers -- nearly 50,000 American troops remain stationed in Iraq -- are allowed to return fire in self-defence, and take part in operations if requested by local forces.

Tuesday's deaths were the first American military fatalities since the US declared an end to its combat mission in Iraq on September 1.

The violence brought to 4,418 the total number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally based on independent website icasualties.org.

The shooting came just two days after American troops helped repel a coordinated suicide attack on an Iraqi army complex in Baghdad by providing "suppressive fire" to give cover to local forces as they stormed a building in which insurgents had hidden.

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