US troops have killed seven women and children in a car at a desert checkpoint 100 miles to the south of Baghdad near the town of Najaf.
A US military official said soldiers opened fire after the van would not stop as ordered, and initial reports indicated the soldiers followed the rules of engagement to protect themselves.
Four of 13 women and children - the only occupants of the vehicle - were unharmed. Two others were wounded.
A Washington Postreporter with the 3rd Infantry said there were 10 people killed - and he said there were suggestions one of the US forward platoons maynot have fired a warning shot soon enough to stop the minivan.US officials offered an unspecified amount of money to compensate them,the Postsaid.
They were the first known Iraqi civilian deaths by US gunfire since the war began on March 20th, although Iraq has said dozens of civilians in Baghdad have died in missile attacks. The checkpoint shooting will fuel anti-American sentiment through the Arab world.
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Marine Corps General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said the soldiers who shot at the car "absolutely did the right thing," because the occupants of the car had been acting unusually and the soldiers thought their lives were threatened. He said an investigation into the incident has begun.
Gen Pace said soldiers fired warning shots, and then shots into the vehicle's engine, neither of which stopped it."In light of recent terrorist attacks by the Iraqi regime, the soldiers exercised considerable restraint to avoid the unnecessary loss of life."
US Marines also admitted shooting dead an unarmed Iraqi who drove his pickup truck at speed towards a checkpoint outside the southern town of Shatra. A passenger was badly wounded. The truck was not loadedand neither of the men was in uniform or armed, marines said.
"I thought it was a suicide bomb," said one of theservicemen who fired on the vehicle.
US officers have said their troops are being especially careful in checking civilians since a suicide bomber approaching a checkpoint in the Najaf area last Saturday killed four US soldiers.
Agencies