Insurgents Using Children to Lower Suspicions

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi insurgents used two children as a 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.

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

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. (Watch Barbero describe how insurgents are interested only in slaughter )

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

The attack raises concerns that insurgents are trying a new tactic: using children to throw off troops, Barbero said.

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

Barbero and Pentagon officials said this is the only attack of its kind they have seen.

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

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/20/iraq.main/index.html