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U.S. private security guards “kill two women”

Irbil: Private security firms in Iraq were under fresh scrutiny on Tuesday after two women died in a hail of bullets, apparently because their car had got too close to a security convoy travelling through central Baghdad. The identity of the guards remains unknown, but an Iraqi government spokesman said an American security company was involved.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said: “Preliminary reports indicate that an American security company has opened fire on two women and they were killed.”

The deaths came just hours after Iraq’s government demanded that the U.S. security company Blackwater pay a total of $136 million in compensation to the families of civilians killed in a shooting in Baghdad last month.

Seventeen persons were shot and at least 20 injured when Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy opened fire. Prime minister Maliki’s government has urged the U.S. to sever its relations with the company within six months.

The North Carolina-based company did not appear to be involved in the latest fatal shooting, Mr. Dabbagh told Associated Press.

“I don’t think it’s Blackwater. There are many security companies working in Iraq and some of them are not even registered,” he said. A Blackwater spokeswoman denied any involvement.

Police at the scene said they had collected 19 shell casings used by NATO forces and by Iraqi security agencies which have recently received new U.S. weapons.

In a scene that has become depressingly familiar to Baghdad residents, the women were shot after they drove too close to a convoy of three unmarked four-wheel drives close to the former German embassy.

One witness said the guards in the convoy, who were reported to be masked, had fired a warning shot and a smoke bomb in the direction of the women’s car.

He said the woman driving appeared to panic and failed to stop. A police spokesman said their car had then been hit with at least 16 bullets.

The convoy then sped off leaving behind the blood-stained vehicle.

The women were described as being members of Iraq’s Christian community. Marou Awanis (48) was named as the driver. Relatives said she had been using her car as a taxi to ferry government employees to work to raise money to support her daughters. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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