CAIRO, March 21, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – It took the American Apache Company's soldiers only 15 seconds to kill the Iraqi parents, cripple a 12-year-old son and leave physical and psychological scars on the rest of their children, a major American magazine reports in its March 28 edition.

Hussein Hassan and his family were racing time to get home with the US-imposed curfew in Tall Afar, a rundown city of 200,000 near the Syrian border, only 15 minutes away when the tragedy happened, according to the Newsweek.

One of the sons, 12-year-old Rakan, was first to spot the US soldiers who were waving their arms and raising their assault rifles.

“The boy jumped up in the back seat. Before he could open his mouth to warn his father, a storm of gunfire struck the car, killing both parents and covering the children with their blood,” reports the Newsweek.

“The Hassan family might have vanished into the war's statistics if Chris Hondros hadn't been at the scene that evening,” it says.

The story of the Hassan orphans “offers some insight into why Iraq remains one of the most dangerous places on earth two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and why the United States has had such difficulty winning Iraqi hearts and minds.”