Security Firm Apologizes for Baghdad Shooting
The Australian-run security firm involved in a shooting Tuesday in Baghdad that killed two women has apologized and says "they will do whatever the Interior Ministry asks them to do," the Iraqi ministry's chief spokesman says. The Washington Post reports that Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Unity Resources Group, which is registered with the Iraqi government, has "admitted what they have done."
The women were shot when their car drove up behind the last vehicle in a Unity-led convoy. A spokesman for the company said the occupants of the car were given repeated warnings before shots were fired, but Iraqi witnesses said the car didn't pose a threat.
Unity also was investigated for a shooting last year. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that in March 2006, an Iraqi-born Australian, Kays Juma, who was teaching at a Baghdad university, was killed when his vehicle apparently did not stop at a checkpoint. An internal Unity investigation cleared its staff of wrongdoing, and the Coalition Provincial Authority accepted the findings.
Meanwhile, as All Things Considered reported, the Iraqi prime minister's office says an initial investigation found that the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA "deliberately killed" 17 civilians in a Sept. 16 shooting. The Iraqi government wants Blackwater to pay $8 million in compensation to the families of those killed.
10:11 AM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink
