Baghdad, Nov 21 (Prensa Latina) - US troops opened fire on a civilian vehicle Monday at a checkpoint near the city of Baquba, killing five members of an Iraqi family including children, as US forces launched a new offensive in Ar Ramadi, Anbar province.

An Iraqi police report said two men and three children were killed and two women and a child were wounded in the shooting.

Some witnesses were quoted as saying that the family was traveling to a funeral at the time of the attack.

The US military said the minibus they were traveling in failed to stop as it approached a checkpoint at about 08:00 local time on Monday.

Ahmed Kamel al-Sawamara, a 22-year-old who was driving the car, said he had no time to react when shots began raining down.

"The soldiers started shooting at us from all over. I slowed down and pulled off the road, but they continued firing.

"I saw my family killed, one after the other, and then the car caught fire. I dragged their bodies out."

Meanwhile on Sunday, US and Iraqi troops launched Operation Bruins in northern Ar Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad in Iraq's restive Anbar province.

According to the US military, the operation, which involves approximately 300 US Marines and 150 Iraqi Army soldiers, is intended to clear parts of the predominantly Sunni Muslim town of nationalist and jihadist insurgents in preparation for elections scheduled for December 15.