Troops kill 2 children in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Canadian soldiers opened fire on a speeding car they feared was about to attack their convoy, killing a 2-year-old boy and his 4-year-old sister, officials said Monday.

NATO and the Canadian military said in statements that the troops near Kandahar opened fire Sunday after the driver ignored repeated signals to keep back. The Canadian statement said the car came under fire after it drove within 10 yards of the convoy.

Militants regularly use civilian cars loaded with explosives in suicide missions against Afghan and foreign troops.

In Ottawa, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said the deaths of the two children was a “horrible circumstance” in which a “horrible decision had to be taken.”

MacKay said soldiers live with the possibility that it “may be a bomb coming your way” whenever a car approaches.

“With these suicide bombs that have occurred in the past with these approaches, soldiers have sometimes a split-second to make a decision on protecting their fellow soldiers and protecting themselves, protecting fellow civilians that are in the area,” MacKay said.