"The US side opened fire on the convoy," Abbas Khalaf said, quoting "witness statements."

According to the Iraqi envoy, the convoy attack Sunday took place 60 kilometres (38 miles) outside Baghdad.

Reports so far have conflicted over whether US or Iraqi forces were responsible for the incident.

"The Russian diplomats were targetted although the US military command had been informed of the route they were taking," the ambassador said, adding that "Iraqi soldiers accompanied the wounded Russians to hospital."

Khalaf pointed out that the US authorities had "so far provided no official explanation" of the incident.

US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice arrived in Sunday on an unannounced visit a few hours after the convoy was attacked in a bid to calm tensions between Moscow and Washington.

She met Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov Monday morning and was to hold talks with Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov in the Kremlin.

A Russian journalist traveling with the group, state-owned television Rossiya's correspondent Alexander Minakov, said US forces initiated the shooting.

But US Central Command in Qatar said Iraqi forces controlled the area and "initial reports" indicated there were no US or British troops nearby.

In Washington, General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon was investigating.

SPACE.WIRE