DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- U.S. soldiers fired on a van carrying 13 women and children when it failed to stop at a military checkpoint in southern Iraq, killing seven people and wounding two others, U.S. Central Command said Monday in a written statement.


--motioned for an approaching van to stop, but were ignored by the driver, the statement said.

The soldiers fired warning shots into the air which also were ignored and then shot at the vehicle's engine, "but it continued moving toward the checkpoint," the statement said.

Soldiers were unable to see into the van, a spokesman for Central Command said.

I quoted all of the above directly from the article. This is sad, but the saddest part to me is that they could have so easily been saved if they had just done what they were instructed to do. I feel bad for all involved, including the soldiers who will have to live with this forever. It is obviously not the scenario they would have liked.