"Too many civilians have already lost their lives in this war," a spokesman for the European Union's executive arm told reporters.

"This is a horrible and tragic incident. We send our condolences to the families," the spokesman said, adding the Commission hoped there would "not be any other incidents of this type".

"This is not an isolated incident," he continued. "It shows that however advanced the technology is, there is no war without the loss of innocent life."

The Commission urged the warring parties to "show restraint towards civilians".

The civilian shooting occurred on Monday at a checkpoint at Najaf, 150 kilometres (95 miles) south of Baghdad, manned by soldiers from the US Army's Third Infantry Division.

Iraqi officials say hundreds of civilians have been killed and wounded since the start of the war 13 days ago.

Hospital officials said US and British bombing killed six more Iraqis and wounded dozens of others in a residential neighbourhood of Baghdad on Monday.

While Iraqi officials said Tuesday 18 people had been killed and more than 100 wounded in air strikes on Baghdad since late Monday.

Residents of Janabiyah, a village on the edge of the Iraqi capital, said 20 civilians, 11 of them children, were killed when US and British missiles hit five sleeping families at a farm there on Saturday night.

AFP journalists have witnessed five such incidents in which civilians were the main victims of a US-British strike, reporting at least 70 dead and dozens of wounded.

On Friday bombing from an unconfirmed source hit a market in a working-class neighbourhood of Baghdad, killing 30 people dead and wounding 47 others.

SPACE.WIRE