But Russian intelligence sources immediately rejected the suggestion as "groundless fantasy."

The convoy carrying Russia's ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko, and other diplomats came under fire -- apparently from US troops -- as they were evacuating to Syria from Baghdad.

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily said Wednesday the incident appeared to have been a deliberate US attempt to wrest the archives from Russian control.

It added that the archives were "probably already in Moscow."

Details of the incident remain unclear, but Titorenko has accused US forces of deliberately targeting the convoy and injuring five people.

US officials have given assurances that whatever the circumstances may have been, no harm was intended to the Russian diplomats and accompanying journalists.

A senior US official suggested Monday that the incident could have been set up by the Iraqis by instructing drivers to take the convoy through a contested area west of Baghdad instead of a relatively quiet section of road as scheduled.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta, which last month reported that part of Iraq's intelligence archives had been deposited at the Russian embassy prior to their evacuation to Moscow, insisted that several details backed up its view that the attack on the convoy had been deliberate.

It said US military command had been warned in advance of the route the convoy was taking and an unmanned Predator drone had followed the motorcade from the moment it started, transmitting detailed real time images to special units of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

US troops on the ground had made several attempts to order searches of the convoy's cargo, the paper noted, adding that the burst of fire directed at the convoy was limited, as if intended to halt it rather than kill its passengers.

The head of the Russian external intelligence services (SVR), Sergei Lebedev, has already reported to President Vladimir Putin on the archives, according to the daily.

But the SVR issued a statement describing the report as a "baseless fantasy ... plucked from the air."

The United States has made intense diplomatic efforts to prevent the convoy incident damaging relations between Moscow and Washington, with State Department spokesman Philip Reeker describing it as "a matter of extreme seriousness."

"We are in close communication with the Russian government on this matter," he said in a statement Tuesday.

Promising a full investigation, he added: "We will communicate fully the findings to the government of Russia as soon as they are available."

SPACE.WIRE