The ensuing five-hour firefight left nine marines wounded, including one who was shot in the head and remains in a critical condition.

Staff Sergeant Brian Ivers said the experience on Wednesday, shortly after the marines' arrival in the Iraqi capital, had rammed home the dangers of being lulled into a false sense of security.

Ivers said it appeared that the group of youngsters had been deliberately set up as a decoy at an intersection in the Palestian neighbourhood of the capital by diehard supporters of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"They missed us with rocket propelled grenades and we took heavy machine-gun fire from the right and left. Then these cars start heading towards us," he told AFP.

"We hit one and it hit a telephone pole. We just lit up the other cars and civilians trying to escape were taking fire from the Iraqis.

"It was like something out of World War II but with kamikaze cars and it really unnerved the men because every car made them nervous and when my men saw the children they started crying and went to rescue the survivors," said Ivers from Fox Company 2nd Battalion 23rd Marine Regiment.

The marines were largely greeted with cheers and goodwill by civilians on their arrival in Baghdad, but they have been made well aware that the capital remains a dangerous battleground.

Troops, in particular those based at checkpoints, have been unnerved by a series of deadly incidents.

One US soldier was killed Thursday in a suicide attack in Baghdad's Saddam City, the scene of euphoric celebrations the day before as tanks rolled into the mainly Shiite suburb.

That was the third suicide attack since the US-led campaign began March 20.

Three coalition soldiers were killed earlier this month when two Iraqi women carried out a suicide car bombing at a US military checkpoint near Hadithah Dam, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Civilians also took to the streets to surrender or welcome the US troops on their approach to Baghdad.

But marines were reduced to tears in the southern city of Nasiriyah after hearing Iraqis had killed a number of their comrades by blasting an amphibious assault vehicle with a rocket after waving a white flag.

Ivers said the use of children as a decoy by militiamen on Wednesday fitted in with a pattern of blurring the boundaries between military and civilian.

Coalition forces have consistenly accused Iraqi forces of dressing in civilian clothing during the war to oust Saddam and charged that they have used the sanctuary of mosques to launch attacks.

SPACE.WIRE