Security guards fired randomly: Iraq official

Aseel Kami
Reuters
Wednesday October 10, 2007

Iraqi officials on Wednesday accused guards working for a foreign security company of firing randomly when they killed two women in the latest incident involving private security contractors that has outraged Iraqis.

Family members prepared to bury the two women in the New Baghdad district of the Iraqi capital a day after the shooting on Tuesday at a Baghdad intersection involving guards working for Australian-owned, Dubai-based Unity Resources Group.

The company said it deeply regretted the incident and that a vehicle had failed to stop despite warnings.

Brigadier-General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for Baghdad security, said the women encountered a convoy of four-wheel-drive vehicles when they drove up to an intersection in Baghdad's Karrada district.

"It opened fire randomly, targeting an Oldsmobile vehicle being driven by a woman. The incident made the two women martyrs," Moussawi told Reuters.

Unity Resources Group said in a statement on its Web site that it deeply regretted the incident. It has not yet answered telephone calls or emails to its offices in Baghdad and Dubai.

It statement said its security team was approached at speed by a vehicle which did not stop despite warnings which included hand signals and signal flares, after which shots were fired.

One witness said a warning shot was fired and the security guards opened fire when the driver continued to edge forward.

Many Iraqis see private security companies as little more than private armies which act with impunity. They are still angry over a September 16 shooting involving U.S. firm Blackwater in which 17 people were killed.

Moussawi said Iraqi police and military were investigating the incident and urged the women's relatives to bring charges against the company.

The company has worked in Iraq since 2004 and employs former special forces and tactical police drawn from the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Its security escorts typically include Iraqi guards with foreign team leaders.

U.S. embassy officials have said the company had a contractual relationship with a U.S. non-government organization but did not elaborate.

CONTRACTORS UNDER SPOTLIGHT

The Blackwater shooting brought private security contractors under the spotlight, with the incident now the subject of at least four investigations by Iraqi and U.S. officials.

Between 25,000 and 48,000 private security guards work in Iraq under a 2004 law, drawn up while Iraq was still under U.S. administration, which gives them immunity from Iraqi law.

"We look at the security companies as a mafia, not as security companies working to make the situation more secure for the people, or even the delegations they are guarding," said a Baghdad resident who gave his name only as Qais.

"People run away from them, they are afraid to cross the street in front of them," he told Reuters.

The Blackwater shooting highlighted what some industry representatives have described as the ambiguous status under which they work, with many firms not holding valid licenses.

The Iraqi government has accused Blackwater of "deliberately killing" the 17 Iraqis in last month's shooting in west Baghdad. A government source has said the government wants Blackwater to pay $8 million compensation to each victim's family.

Blackwater employs about 1,000 people in Iraq and guards U.S. embassy and State Department officials. It says its guards responded lawfully to a threat against a convoy it was protecting.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered tighter controls on Blackwater, including putting cameras on the company's vehicles and ensuring diplomatic security agents accompany and monitor each convoy.

(Additional reporting by Yasser Faisal in Baghdad)