Another Iraqi civilian was killed in a checkpoint shooting today, fueling Arab anger already roused by the roadblock deaths of seven women and children the previous day.

News agency Reuters reported that US marines shot dead an unarmed driver and badly wounded his passenger south of Baghdad, just hours after the previous deaths at a checkpoint near the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.

The US troops killed seven Iraqi women and children after the vehicle the locals were traveling in failed to stop at a checkpoint.

The report said that US marines fired o­n a pickup truck that sped toward them at a checkpoint near the southern town of Shatra.

The truck was empty and neither the driver nor his passenger was armed, marines told a Reuters correspondent.

"I thought it was a suicide bomb," Reuters quoted o­ne of the marines as saying.

The right thing

Earlier today, Reuters reported that the US Central Command acknowledged firing at the vehicle and killing the seven near the central city of Najaf.

"As a last resort the soldiers fired into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Inside the vehicle they found 13 women and children. Seven of the occupants were dead. Two were wounded. Four were unharmed," a spokesman was quoted as saying.

The report also quoted Marine Corps Gen Peter Pace, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, as saying that the soldiers who shot at the car "absolutely did the right thing," because the occupants of the car had been acting unusually and the soldiers thought their lives were threatened.

US officials also said that the soldiers at Najaf exercised considerable caution following recent surprise attacks against US servicemen by attackers dressed as civilians.

An Iraqi suicide bomber exploded a taxi at a US checkpoint in Najaf Saturday, killing four US soldiers.

Invading forces gaining ground

Meanwhile o­n the military front, CNN reported that relentless air assault o­n Iraqi positions continued overnight, targeting Republican Guard divisions defending Baghdad, the headquarters of the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary group and a presidential compound o­n the southwest edge of the Iraqi capital.

The network quoted the Pentagon officials as saying that more than 3,000 precision-guided munitions were dropped in the past three days alone, bringing the total to 8,000 for the entire 12 days of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The invading forces also gained advantage in the north when intense air attacks near Mosul resulted in 13 Iraqi soldiers abandoning their posts and surrendering to Kurdish fighters.

"The Kurdish militia, the Peshmerga, said about 1,000 Iraqi soldiers have surrendered so far along the northern front line separating Kurdish areas from those controlled by the Iraqi regime," said the report.

At the same time, the US troops also managed to take control of an airfield o­n the outskirts of Najaf. Officials say the strip will be used by military transport planes, o­nce it is cleared of mines.

Similar successes were also gained in the cities of Nasiriya and Samawy, where US officials said 50 Iraqi soldiers and 100 members of a paramilitary group were captured.

US officials add that scores of Republic Guard have surrendered in the central Iraqi city of Karbala and that nearly 50 percent of the Medina Division's tanks had been destroyed.

Meanwhile in Basra, CNN reported that British forces have secured the western part of the city, where Iraqi paramilitary forces have been battling coalition troops for the past week.

Reuters

also reported that the US marines captured a huge ammunition depot in south-central Iraq that included 40 warehouses, where they discovered scores of ammunition, rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and various other small arms.

Who is winning?

The news agency also carried a report quoting President George W Bush as saying that US-led forces were making significant progress in the opening days of war in Iraq.

"Many dangers lie ahead, but day by day we are moving closer to Baghdad, day by day we are moving closer to victory," Bush was quoted as saying.

The report said that Bush appeared to be addressing critics of the US war plan who contend US forces are getting bogged down o­n the way to Baghdad in the face of unexpected resistance from Iraqi militias.

"In 11 days coalition forces have taken control of most of western and southern Iraq. In 11 days we've seized key bridges, opened a northern front, achieved -- nearly achieved complete air superiority and are delivering tons of humanitarian aid," said Bush.

However CNN reported Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri as saying that the US-led coalition is being "defeated o­n all fronts and [is] retreating in the face of strong strikes".

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf ( photo ) also said that Iraqi troops in recent days have killed about 43 American and British "mercenaries" and destroyed 13 tanks, eight armored personnel carriers, four Apace helicopters and two Predator drones.

US military officials in Washington said they could not substantiate the Iraqi claims, and that there have been no reports of Apaches being shot down.

Sahaf also accused US and British troops of killing Iraqi civilians, an action he called "racist".

But Brig Gen Vincent Brooks, at a Central Command news conference in Qatar, said, "No o­ne's killing more Iraqis right now than the [Iraqi] regime."