Checkpoint death toll mounts

US Marines today shot dead an unarmed Iraqi at a checkpoint hours after seven women and children were killed by American troops who fired at a van which failed to stop in southern Iraq.

The man’s pickup truck was riddled with bullets after it sped towards an Allied roadblock on the main highway outside the southern town of Shatra today.

It is the eighth known death of civilians at the hands of US troops at roadblocks in the last 24 hours.

Yesterday soldiers from the US 3rd Infantry Division, who reportedly could not see inside a blue Toyota van, fired warning shots at a van speeding towards a checkpoint near Karbala and then into the vehicle’s engine, none of which stopped the van carrying 13 people.

“As a last resort the soldiers fired into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Inside the vehicle they found 13 women and children. Seven of the occupants were dead, two were wounded and four were unharmed,” said a US army spokesman.

The incident happened close to where an Iraqi suicide car bomb exploded on Saturday killing four US soldiers. Since then troops have been ordered to be especially vigilant.

“It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen, and I hope I never see it again,” Sgt Mario Manzano, 26, from Bravo Company told the Washington Post.

He said one of the wounded women sat in the vehicle holding the mangled bodies of two of her children. “She didn’t want to get out of the car,” he said. An investigation into the incident was under way today.

The military spokesman said: “Initial reports indicate the soldiers responded in accordance with the rules of engagement to protect themselves.

“In light of recent terrorist attacks by the Iraqi regime, the soldiers exercised considerable restraint to avoid the unnecessary loss of life.”

As US Marines continued their inch-by-inch advance on Baghdad from Karbala, Nassiriyah and Najaf, British forces around Basra were hoping for further progress in their push to take control of Iraq’s second city.

By nightfall yesterday Royal Marines were mopping up the last resistance from Saddam Hussein loyalists in Abu Al Khasib, in a strategic southern suburb.

The success of Operation James, the first urban infantry assault by British troops, may embolden senior commanders to order a full advance on Basra, a city believed to be controlled by a small but desperate pro-Saddam minority.

British troops received a warm welcome from the civilian population with children and adults giving the thumbs-up, smiling and shouting “Mister, mister, England good”.

“We were meant to be giving them food but they keep coming up to us and giving us stuff,” one surprised Royal Marine said.

In nearby al Zubayr, Safwan and Rumaila, where British forces have smashed the grip of Saddam’s ruling Baath party and begun to distribute aid, soldiers were beginning to patrol the streets wearing berets rather than helmets, a sign of the level of control the Allies have now exerted on the strategic towns.

A British military source said: “We are moving from a very aggressive stance to possibly getting back to normality. We’ve had that policy in place in Umm Qasr for a couple of days now.”

Meanwhile, the British death toll climbed to 26 today after a British soldier was killed in southern Iraq yesterday while attempting to dismantle munitions, the Ministry of Defence announced today.

A spokesman said the soldier, whose name and rank have not been disclosed, was a bomb disposal expert.

His next of kin have been informed but further details were not being released until all of his extended family have been contacted.

Last night Baghdad came under renewed heavy bombardment and US troops engaged in fierce battles with Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guards protecting the approaches to the Iraqi capital.

Explosions also rumbled through the south of Baghdad early today, hours after a series of powerful blasts shook the centre, sending smoke billowing from the Old Palace presidential compound and from across the Tigris River where another central target was struck.

Iraqi state-run television was briefly bombed off air last night, and nearly all telephone service was knocked out in the capital.

American forces battled Iraqi defenders in fierce street fighting 50 miles south of Baghdad yesterday.

They also encountered rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in a raid against Republican Guard defenders of Hindiyah, a key city astride the Euphrates River. Other units fought to isolate Najaf to the south and prevent attacks on US supply lines.

In Washington, Pentagon spokeswoman Tori Clarke said US officials had seen evidence that members of Saddam’s family, and the families of senior Iraqi officials, had tried to escape although she refused to elaborate.

Yesterday, Iraqi television showed Saddam with his sons Odai and Qusai, but there was no way of determining when the video was shot.

In London, Tony Blair was today chairing another meeting of his War Cabinet following an acknowledgement from Home Secretary David Blunkett that coalition powers were “seen as the villains”.

Mr Blunkett predicted, however, that the perception would be short-lived – and that Iraqis would eventually welcome the chance to live in a liberated country.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was travelling to Turkey and Belgium today for talks on the war as well as post-war reconstruction of Iraq.

In his latest address, US President George Bush said: “Day by day we are moving closer to Baghdad. Day by day we are moving closer to victory.”

However, the Iraqi foreign minister was defiant and said invading forces faced the choice between death or surrender.

Naji Sabri said: “Every day that passes the United States and Britain are sinking deeper in the mud of defeat.”