Five Iraqi civilians have been killed after US troops opened fire on their vehicle near a military base north of Baghdad.
The US army's 3rd Infantry Division said its troops had opened fire after first trying to wave the minivan to a stop and then firing warning shots.
"These tragedies only happen because Zarqawi and his thugs are out there driving around with car bombs," said Major Steve Warren, a spokesman for US forces in Baquba, in reference to the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Two men and a child were killed and three people were wounded, Warren said. However, survivors disputed the military's account, insisting that five family members, including two children, died and four were wounded as bullets tore through the van.
Meanwhile, US and Iraqi authorities are investigating reports that Zarqawi was killed in a gunfight with US troops in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Saturday but there has been no confirmation that Iraq's most wanted militant is dead.
The minivan incident highlighted the delicate balance in Iraq, where a insurgency by Sunni Arabs and foreign fighters against the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government and its US backers is intensifying in the buildup to December 15 elections.
One of the survivors told Reuters the family had been driving from Balad, a town about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, to Baquba for a funeral and had tried to move over to make way for a US patrol when they were shot at.