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Add an EventIraq shootout firm loses licence
As many as 20,000 private security contractors are working in Iraq The Iraqi interior ministry said the contractor, based in North Carolina, was now banned from operating in Iraq.
The Blackwater workers, who were contracted by the US state department, apparently opened fire after coming under attack in Baghdad on Sunday.
Thousands of private security guards are employed in lawless Iraq.
They are often heavily armed, but critics say some are not properly trained and are not accountable except to their employers.
The interior ministry's director of operations, Maj Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, said authorities would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force.
"We have opened a criminal investigation against the group who committed the crime," he told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
All Blackwater personnel have been told to leave Iraq immediately, with the exception of the men involved in the incident on Sunday.
They will have to remain the country and stand trial, the ministry said.
US investigation
The convoy carrying officials from the US state department came under attack at about 1230 local time on Sunday as it passed through Nisoor Square in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Mansour.
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"The interior minister has issued an order to cancel Blackwater's license and the company is prohibited from operating anywhere in Iraq," Interior Ministry Director of Operations Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said.
A US diplomatic convoy came under attack on Sunday, September 16, in Baghdad's Al-Yarmukh neighborhood of west Baghdad.
The private security contractors accompanying the convoy responded by opening fire and killing eight Iraqis.
Witnesses and victims lying in hospital suffering gunshot wounds said the Blackwater guards had opened indiscriminate fire into the crowded streets and at cars trapped behind the convoy.
When the pandemonium had died down, at least eight people were dead and 13 wounded.
"The foreigners in the convoy started shouting and signaling us to go back. I turned around and must have driven 100 feet (30 meters) when they started shooting," said lawyer Hassan Jabar Salman.
He was hit by five bullets while trying to flee the scene in his car and is being treated in Baghdad's Al-Yarmukh Hospital.
"My car was hit with 12 bullets, of which four hit me in the back and one in the arm," he said as he lay wrapped in bloodied bandages on the hospital bed.
"There were eight of them in four utility vehicles and all shooting with heavy machine guns."
Salman said he had seen a woman and a traffic policeman killed and dozens of people hitting the ground to avoid the barrage of bullets.
"We have opened a criminal investigation against the group who committed the crime," said Khalaf, the interior ministry official.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had condemned the "criminal" response of the contractors guarding the convoy.
There have been several other similar incidents involving private security contractors in the Iraqi capital.
The contractors are often accused of firing randomly and speeding through the crowded streets of Baghdad to avoid attack.
Blackwater Mercenaries
US Embassy information officer W. Johann Schmonsees told reporters that Blackwater had not "been expelled from the country yet".
"We are continuing to discuss with the Iraqi government," he said.
No representatives from Blackwater, which offers personal security to US civilian officials working in Iraq, were immediately available for comment.
Blackwater's security consulting division holds at least 109 million dollars worth of State Department contracts in Iraq and is authorized to use deadly force, the Washington Post said in June.
It employs nearly 1,000 people in Iraq and operates a fleet of helicopters offering security to US embassy officials and other Americans and escorts for convoys on the country's dangerous roads.
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A series of bombings, meanwhile, ripped through Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens, police said.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he understood the need for protection for Westerners and dignitaries but that preliminary findings showed Blackwater used excessive force in Sunday's shooting.
He said more than 20 people were killed and 35 wounded — more than double the death toll released by the Interior Ministry.
Blackwater has insisted its employees acted in self-defense and that those killed were armed combatants who threatened State Department personnel.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/18/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq.php