Children used in attack in Iraq, U.S. says

WASHINGTON — Iraqi insurgents used children to get past a Baghdad checkpoint and then blew up their vehicle with the two youngsters still in the back seat, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The weekend attack killed the children and three bystanders, Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, an official with the Pentagon's Joint Staff, said at a briefing.

He said the vehicle was initially stopped at the checkpoint.

"Children in the back seat lower suspicion. We let it move through," Barbero said. "They parked the vehicle. The adults run out and detonated it with the children in the back. So the brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed. I mean, they are just interested in slaughtering Iraqi civilians to meet their ends."

The attack occurred near a market in the Adamiya neighborhood, a defense official said.

Military officials were unable to offer more details, including whether the adults who triggered the bomb were captured.

The general called it a new tactic but noted U.S. forces had only seen one such occurrence involving children.

The use of chemical bombings has increased and become a tool of the insurgency, as the three chlorine bombs detonated this past weekend brought the total to six such bombings since January, the general said.