The deaths were a stark reminder that, despite Washington having declared combat operations over in August, its 50,000-odd troops still stationed in Iraq remain at risk.

Saturday's worst incident saw two soldiers killed and one wounded "when an Iraqi soldier attacked them at the Ghazlani Training Center near Mosul at approximately 8:30 am (0530 GMT) Saturday," a US army statement said.

"The incident occurred during a training event being conducted by US forces."

It continued: "The Iraqi soldier responsible for the shooting was killed during the attack."

The statement did not detail what provoked the attack, and did not provide details of the US soldiers killed and wounded, or the Iraqi soldier who carried out the shooting.

That account of the shooting differed slightly from that provided by Iraqi sources.

One Iraqi army officer said two Iraqi soldiers opened fire, leading to the casualties, with both being arrested.

Another officer at Nineveh Operations Command, the security command for the province of which Mosul is the capital, said one of the two was shot dead by US forces and the other detained.

It was at least the second time in four months that US troops come under fire by Iraqi soldiers in the north of the country. On September 7, two US soldiers were killed and nine others wounded.

Also on Saturday, a US soldier was killed "while conducting operations in central Iraq," a US statement said, without providing details.

The death toll was the highest in a single day for American forces since July 2, when three soldiers died in separate "non-hostile" incidents, according to independent website www.icasualties.org.

Four US soldiers also died on September 8, 2009, in two separate roadside bombings in Baghdad and Salaheddin province, central Iraq.

Saturday's deaths bring to 4,435 the number of American troops to have died in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, according to an AFP tally based on data from icasualties.

While combat operations were officially declared over at the end of August, US troops remaining in Iraq are tasked primarily with training and advising their Iraqi counterparts, ahead of a complete withdrawal at the end of the year under a bilateral security pact.

US soldiers in Iraq also take part in joint counter-terror operations with local forces and are permitted to fire their weapons in self-defence.

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