Suicide bombers use children

WASHINGTON – Iraqi insurgents appear to have adopted a new tactic since the start of a security crackdown in Baghdad, using children in a suicide attack on Sunday, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations on the Joint Staff, told reporters that a vehicle was waved through a U.S. military checkpoint because two children were visible in the back seat.

“Children in the back seat lowered suspicion, (so) we let it move through, they parked the vehicle, the adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back,” Barbero said.

“The brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn’t changed.”

Other officials said later that three Iraqi bystanders were killed in the attack near a marketplace in the north Baghdad neighborhood of al-Adamiyah, in addition to the two children, and seven people were injured.

The officials had no other details, including the estimated ages of the children.

Barbero said this was the first reported use of children in a suicide car bombing in Baghdad.