IRAQ At least 3 die when troops fire on civilian car

DNA tests are being done to determine whether an Al-Qaida leader was killed.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. soldiers fired on a civilian vehicle Monday because they feared it might hold a suicide bomber, killing at least two adults and a child northeast of the capital, American and Iraqi officials said.
The troops fired on the car because it was moving erratically outside a U.S. base in Baqouba, 35 miles from Baghdad, said Maj. Steven Warren, a U.S. spokesman. "It was one of these regrettable, tragic incidents," Warren said.
Dr. Ahmed Fouad at the city morgue and police officials gave a higher death toll, saying five people -- including three children -- were killed while driving home from a funeral.
Iraqi officials have long complained about American troops firing at civilian vehicles that appear suspicious. U.S. officials note that suicide car bombers often strike U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints.
The shooting took place in a province that has experienced at least four major bombings in the last three weeks -- including a suicide car bomb Monday that missed U.S. vehicles but killed five civilians outside Baqouba.
Did al-Zarqawi die?
Mystery continued to surround a firefight that broke out when U.S. and Iraqi forces surrounded a house in the northern city of Mosul that was believed used by members of Al-Qaida in Iraq. Eight insurgents and four Iraqi policemen died in the assault, officials said.
Iraq's foreign minister said tests were being done to determine if the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, died in the raid. And a U.S. government official confirmed that DNA from the insurgents' bodies had been taken for testing. The official in Washington spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
However, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq cast doubt on whether al-Zarqawi was killed. "Unfortunately, we did not get him in Mosul," Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said of Iraq's most feared terrorist.
The raid took place in a mostly Kurdish area of eastern Mosul where attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces are less common than in the western, mostly Sunni Arab part of the city. However, U.S. soldiers say many insurgents live in eastern Mosul and launch attacks elsewhere. Shahwan Fadhl Ali, a neighbor, said eight Arabs -- four men, a woman and three children -- had been living quietly there since last year.
On Saturday, police Brig. Gen. Said Ahmed al-Jubouri said the raid was launched after a tip that top Al-Qaida operatives, possibly including al-Zarqawi, were in the house. In Moscow, visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Hohshyar Zebari told Jordan's official Petra news agency that authorities were testing DNA samples from several corpses to determine if al-Zarqawi was among them.
But U.S. officials avoided linking al-Zarqawi to the Mosul raid and sought to dispel speculation that the terror mastermind was dead.
"I don't believe that we got him. Of course, his days are numbered, we are after him, we are getting ever closer," Khalilzad said.
At the Pentagon, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said U.S. forces "employ whatever means required" -- presumably including DNA -- "to identify suspected or known terrorists or insurgents."