Iraq PM says 'unfit' Blackwater must go

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday that Blackwater should leave the country because of the mountain of evidence against the under-fire US security firm.

His comments came amid growing anger among Iraqis that "above-the-law" security contractors are continuing to operate in Iraq while Blackwater is being probed over a deadly shooting 17 days ago.

"I believe the abundance of evidence against it makes it unfit to stay in Iraq," Maliki told a televised press conference in Baghdad.

A New York Times report on Wednesday citing witnesses, Iraqi investigators and a US official said that as many as 17 people were killed and 24 wounded when Blackwater employees opened fire in central Baghdad on September 16.

Blackwater maintains its men were legitimately responding to an ambush while protecting a US State Department convoy but they are accused of firing into crowded Nisoor Square indiscriminately.

Immediately after the incident, in which at least 10 people were confirmed killed, Maliki said Washington should replace Blackwater forthwith.

He later backed down and agreed to await the outcome of investigations.

A member of the Shiite ruling coalition, Amira al-Baldawi, told AFP: "Some foreign companies believe they are above the Iraqi law."

Baghdad lawyer Hassan Shaaban said the firm should have been shut down at least until investigators had finished their work.

"This company should halt its work until investigations are over," he said. "There should have been an investigation into the Nisoor Square event before a decision was taken to say if they should continue working in Iraq or not."

Three investigations have been called by the US State Department, whose staff Blackwater was protecting during the shootings, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for a "360-degree" look at the events.

The US Defence Department, which also employs hired guns from Blackwater to protect a number of its personnel, has launched a fourth inquiry.

"As far as the law is concerned, if the probes prove they are responsible for the incident they should be expelled in accordance with Iraqi law," said Hassan.

"They are not an army neither US armed forces. They merely present company services and consequently any violation on the land of Iraq should be subject to the Iraqi judiciary."

Blackwater boss, ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince, denied at a hearing before Congress on Tuesday that his staff ran riot like "cowboys" after a Congressional report suggested the company's security teams in Iraq are out of control.

A committee report found that Blackwater, which protects US diplomats and visiting dignitaries, had been involved in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005, and accused it of covering up fatal shootings involving its staff.

In one incident cited by the committee, a drunken Blackwater employee shot and killed a guard of Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi.