A gunman wearing Iraqi army uniform shot dead two U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The incident took place at an Iraqi army military base near the city of Tuz Khurmato, some 200 km north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

An Iraqi security source told Xinhua that an Iraqi soldier from the 4th Division opened fire in the afternoon on U.S. soldiers at the military base after a quarrel, killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding several others.

The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq to about 4,418, since the breakout of the U.S.- led war on Iraq in 2003, according to media account based on Pentagon figures.

The deaths are the first since the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq on Aug. 31.