An Iraqi man and his wife have been shot dead in front of their five children by US soldiers who fired on the car in which the family was travelling.
The children survived but emerged from the car spattered with blood, screaming and traumatised. The soldiers tended to them and brought them to hospital.
The incident happened in Tal Afar, near Mosul, in northern Iraq, late on Tuesday.
According to the US military, soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Washington, fired on the car when it failed to stop and came towards soldiers, despite warning shots, during a dusk patrol.
The US forces' press service said the military extended its condolences for the incident, but added that "the military must take appropriate action against possible threats" because of the prevalence of car bombs.
The incident was witnessed by Chris Hondros, a photographer, who recorded it in a series of dramatic pictures. They show how troops shot dead the driver and one passenger - husband and wife, apparently, but unnamed in the photograph captions.
The five children in the rear of the car survived, with only one being slightly injured by a bullet. The military said it was investigating what happened.
Yesterday, the country saw one of its worst days of violence as four suicide car bombings in Baghdad killed 28 people less than two weeks before elections.
The al Qaeda-linked insurgent group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it had carried out three of the bombings.
The group is believed by the Iraqi interim government and US and British forces to be the main instigator of insurgency in Iraq. - (Agencies)