The US has apologised after US Marines shot dead two children at a checkpoint in southern Iraq.
The Marines claimed the driver of the vehicle in which the children were travelling ignored warnings to stop. They were fired upon because they posed a suicide-attack threat, Cpt Jay Delarosa, spokesman for the 15th US Marine Expeditionary Unit in Nassiriya said.
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He also confirmed that nine other people in the minivan were wounded in the incident.
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers offered his apologies to the families of the two children."Let me pass on our regrets to the families of those Iraqis killed at a check point near An Nasiriyah today," Gen Myers told a Pentagon press conference.
Gen Myers also issued a reminder to Iraqis to stop at checkpoints manned by US forces. "We do not wish to harm innocent people," he said.
Meanwhile, 25 people were admitted to hospital in Baghdad after suffering gunshot wounds in clashes during looting. It is not clear if US forces were involved.
AFP