The US military said yesterday it had "no further details" about the incident in Tel Afar, near Mosul, on Tuesday evening in which soldiers shot dead a man and his wife in a car in which they were travelling with their children.
The children, said yesterday to number six rather than five as originally reported, survived the incident, though one was slightly wounded. They were in the back seat of the car when US troops opened fire.
Although the children survived, they were severely traumatised, as was evident in the series of pictures by photographer Chris Hondros who recorded the incident.
Late on Tuesday, the US military said it was investigating what happened. By yesterday, however, there appeared to be little progress to their inquiries. "An investigation is ongoing. We want to get to the bottom of this," said Lt Col Steve Boylan, a US military spokesman.
Meanwhile, Iraqi militants have vowed to fight for "months and years" against US-led forces in Iraq. The group, led by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released an audio tape urging Islamist militants to prepare for a lengthy holy war.
Another Iraqi insurgent group, Ansar al-Sunna, said yesterday it had killed a Briton and a Swede, although the claim, which was posted on the internet, could not be verified.