Seven women and children were on Monday shot dead by American soldiers at a checkpoint near the Shia holy town of Najaf in central Iraq.

The central command headquarters at Doha, Qatar, admitted to the incident late on Monday night.

The incident occurred when the vehicle in which they were travelling refused to heed a soldier's order to halt at the checkpoint.

The soldiers, already edgy after a suicide bomber killed four US Marines on Saturday near another checkpoint in southern Iraq, opened fire.

Later, they found that the vehicle had 13 occupants, all women and children, seven of whom were dead. Two were injured in the incident.