New Terrorist Tactic in Anbar Offensive?

The Marine Corps has released more details on an incident Tuesday, in which a woman and child were killed at a checkpoint in Anbar province, Iraq. From a Marine Corps press release:

The driver, approaching the check point ignored the posted warning signs to stop and bypassed an obstacle barrier, continued toward the post. At 200 meters from the checkpoint, Marines used hand and arm signals then fired a warning flare towards the vehicle, both which the driver ignored. The Marines next fired warning shots in front of the vehicle.

The driver then jumped out of his moving car and fled away on foot, leaving his car, and its passengers, to continue towards the checkpoint. The Marines then fired at the vehicle’s engine block to disable it. The vehicle rolled to a stop in front of the checkpoint. At the time the vehicle was heading toward the checkpoint, the Marines were unaware of the gender of the passenger or that there was a child in the vehicle. The Marines stated that they believed the vehicle was a suicide car bomb.

The driver of the vehicle was apprehended and is being held for questioning in a nearby detention facility.

So, not only did the driver bypass an obstacle and ignore warning shots, he jumped out of the car and left the woman and child to their fate. This smells like a particularly odious tactic designed to generate propaganda. It will be interesting to see how Islamic propaganda sites, particularly ones endorsed by GoogleNews, like uruknet, play this up.