U.S. troops are told to fire, within five seconds, at any car or vehicle

AS-SALIYAH, Qatar, April 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. invasion troops opened fire on a civilian vehicle at a military checkpoint in Iraq, killing seven women and children, a U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday, April 1.

The shooting occurred at a checkpoint manned by soldiers from the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division at Najaf, 150 kilometers (95 miles) south of Baghdad, on Monday afternoon, Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Owens said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He said the victims, women and children, were in a vehicle that failed to stop despite repeated warning shots fired by U.S. troops. Four people in the vehicle escaped unharmed.

"As a last resort, they (US troops) fired into the passenger compartment of the vehicle," Owens said at U.S. Central Command's forward planning base in Qatar.

However, British Daily Mirror put the number of victims at ten Iraqi women and children.

The victims, in a van, were said to be fleeing fighting at the southern city of Najaf when they came under fire from the 3rd Infantry Division.

American military officials, on high alert after a suicide bomber killed four troops in Iraq, said the vehicle was traveling at speed and refused to stop despite verbal warnings and shots fired.

But eyewitness Washington Post reporter William Branigin, embedded with the military unit, said the man who radioed the order for warning shots at the van blamed his fellow troops slow reactions for the tragedy.

He quoted Captain Ronny Johnson as saying to his colleagues: "You just killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough".

Four others in the van, carrying 15, were injured. One man's injuries were so severe he was not expected to live.

The dead included five children thought to be under 5 years old. They were gunned down by around six highly explosive shots from one of the platoon's 25mm Bradley cannons.

One woman was unhurt while another sent to a U.S. army hospital with head wounds was found to be pregnant.

Captain Johnson saw the four-wheel drive Toyota vehicle drive towards the American soldiers and twice radioed orders for warning shots to be fired at the van.

When no shots were fired, he shouted: "Stop him, Red 1, stop him!" causing the deadly burst of gunfire.

The blue van was packed with the 15 civilians and their possessions before their journey reached its grim end.

A Palestinian or an Iraqi frightened child, hard to tell!

Fifteen Iraqi civilians were packed inside the Toyota along with as many of their possessions as the jammed vehicle could hold.

Army medic Sgt. Mario Manzano said one distraught and wounded woman refused to leave the van as she clung to the mangled bodies of two of her children.

Sgt. Manzano added: "It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen, and I hope I never see it again."

American soldiers gave the survivors ten body bags for the victims and officials offered unknown amounts of money as compensation to the relatives.

A U.S. spokesman said earlier: "The infantry motioned for the van to stop and were ignored.

"They fired a warning shot which was also ignored. They then fired into the engine compartment. As a last resort they shot into the passenger compartment.

"We do not know why this happened. We are investigating it as a matter of urgency."

U.S. sources said the checkpoint was on Highway nine - the road linking Basra to Baghdad - nicknamed "Ambush Alley" by American invasion forces.

It has seen some of the heaviest fighting of the invasion and there have been a series of attacks on U.S. troops along the route.

Soldiers have been given new orders of engagement when it comes to approaching civilians after the bomb attack in Najaf at the weekend when an Iraqi officer posed as a taxi driver and blew up his vehicle.

Troops were told that if those in cars or trucks do not obey orders within five seconds they can open fire.

And they have been advised to keep their weapons trained on suspects until they are certain there is no threat of violence

On Monday, a senior U.S. commander, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, told reporters in Qatar that U.S. troops were displaying a "heightened awareness" in their encounters with Iraqi civilians as they tried to determine "whether a threat is posed or not".

"In some cases there may be a threat and a non-threat in the same action coming toward you. It's very, very difficult to sort that out."