From CNN, not exactly known for their pro-US military stories. Also discusses chlorine attacks and related insurgent desperation.


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi insurgents used two children as cover to get through a checkpoint in Baghdad and then blew up the car while the kids were still inside, a U.S. general said Tuesday.

The car went through a checkpoint Sunday and parked by a market across the street from a school, said Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Two adults jumped from the car, leaving the children in the back. Moments later, the car exploded, witnesses said.

The two children and three bystanders died in the blast, and seven others were hurt, Pentagon officials said.

The attack raises fresh concerns about insurgents using children to throw off troops, Barbero said.

"Children in the back seat lower suspicion. We let it move through," he said.

A U.N. report released in January 2006 highlighted insurgents' use of children as suicide bombers in Iraq.

Health officials also say the daily hardships -- bomb blasts, gunfire, killings of family members and sectarian violence -- are taking an increasing mental and physical toll on Iraq's children.