The Israeli military has filed manslaughter charges against an army officer in the killing of four Palestinians, including three children, at an outdoor food market last year, the army said Friday. The indictment says the four were killed when the officer, identified only as a lieutenant, ordered the firing of tank shells and machine guns to enforce a curfew.

Palestinians and human rights groups have accused Israeli troops of unprovoked shootings of civilians during the past three years of fighting, but say such cases are seldom investigated.

B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said this case was the ninth time in the past three years that the military had indicted troops on charges of illegally using deadly force. The cases are at various stages in Israel's military courts, and none have been resolved, the group said.

In the latest indictment, the Israeli officer is accused of ordering tank crews to fire shells and machine guns to drive Palestinians off the street during a curfew on June 21, 2002, in Jenin, in the northern West Bank.

The shooting killed a 6-year-old girl, Sojud Shohaneh, along with two boys, brothers ages 13 and 5, and a 53-year-old man. Five Palestinians were hurt, three of them children.

The trial has not yet begun for the officer, who is also charged with causing grievous bodily harm.

Sojud's father, Ahmad Turki Shohaneh, told B'Tselem that he had taken his children to the market near the center of Jenin to buy food around midday because they believed that the Israeli military curfew had been lifted after three days, and shops were beginning to open.

But while shopping, he heard intense bursts of gunfire.

"People began to run in all directions, and I immediately went to my car and put my children, who were next to the car, inside," Mr. Shohaneh said.

As he was driving away, he heard his children screaming, and saw that his son Nail was wounded.

"I did not stop, and continued driving to get out of gunfire range," Mr. Shohaneh said. "When I left the market, I stopped to see how Nail was. I picked Sojud up to move her away from Nail. When I lifted her, I was shocked to see her lifeless body."

In a rare admission, the Israeli military issued a statement hours after the shooting that said "an initial inquiry indicates the force erred in its action."

At the time, Israeli troops had just re-entered Palestinian cities throughout the West Bank in response to a series of suicide bombings.

Israeli forces usually announce the imposition and the lifting of curfews over loudspeakers, but Palestinian residents say they do not always hear them and take to the streets when they see other Palestinians heading out of their homes.

The Israeli forces remain on the outskirts of the West Bank cities today, and make almost daily sweeps to arrest Palestinians suspected of involvement in violence.

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