US army accidentally killed civilians

US army accidentally killed civilians

Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:47 AM ET

By Faris al-Mehdawi

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops opened fire on a crowded minivan north of Baghdad on Monday, fearing a car bomb attack, and killed at least three members of the same family, including a child, the U.S. military and survivors said.

The U.S. army's 3rd Infantry Division confirmed the incident, saying its troops had opened fire after first trying to wave the minivan to a stop and then firing warning shots.

"This is a tragedy," said Major Steve Warren, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baquba, near where the shooting occurred.

"But these tragedies only happen because Zarqawi and his thugs are out there driving around with car bombs," he added, referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a militant leader in Iraq.

Warren said three people -- two men and a child -- were killed and three were wounded, but the survivors disputed that, saying five members of the family, including two children, were killed and four were wounded.

One of the survivors told Reuters the family was traveling from Balad, a town about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, to the nearby city of Baquba for a funeral when they were shot at by a U.S. patrol as it approached them on the road.

"As we tried to move over to one side to let them pass, they opened fire," one survivor said. None of them would give their names but said the head of the family was a Mohammed Kamel.

Warren said the incident occurred near a U.S. military forward operating base as vehicles were entering the camp. He said U.S. troops frequently set up impromptu roadblocks in such cases and force all nearby vehicles to come to a halt.

The U.S. military took the minivan away immediately after the incident, Iraqi police and the U.S. army said.

Reuters television footage showed two dead children in a morgue in Baquba and relatives kissing another dead body on a morgue trolley. One child's head appeared to have been been blown off.

"They are all children. They are not terrorists," shouted a relative. "Look at the children," he said as a morgue official carried a small dead child into a refrigeration room.

"We felt bullets hitting the car from behind and from in front," said another survivor with blood running from a wound to his head and splattered on his shirt. "Heads were blown off. One child had his hand shot off," he said.

Of those wounded, two were women and one was another child, the survivors said. The U.S. military said two men and one woman were among the wounded.

U.S. troops are frequently accused by Iraqis of shooting at civilian vehicles at checkpoints and roadblocks. At the same time, U.S. troops are attacked every day by car bombers in civilian vehicles who race at U.S. patrols or roadblocks.

Less than two hours after the shooting, a U.S. convoy was attacked by a car bomber in the same area, Warren said.

The U.S. military says it does everything it can to ensure it does not fire on civilians, although it has also admitted in the past to accidentally killing civilians at roadblocks.

To avoid the possibility of being fired on, most Iraqis pull over to the side of the road when U.S. convoys approach.

The convoys generally travel with signs in Arabic telling people to stay back or away and warning them that deadly force will be used if they get too close.

It wasn't clear if the U.S. troops involved in Monday's shooting had erected signs telling vehicles to stop.