BAGHDAD, 21 October 2007 — Iraq yesterday repeated a call for US firm Blackwater to leave almost five weeks after its guards killed as many as 17 civilians, but said it had no problem with other companies that obeyed the law.
“The Iraqi government doesn’t want Blackwater to stay in Iraq,” said a statement from Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh. “There is popular anger against this company because of the crime they committed.”
On Sept. 16, Blackwater guards protecting a US State Department convoy unleashed a hail of bullets in a crowded Baghdad square and killed as many as 17 civilians when they thought they were being ambushed. Blackwater boss Erik Prince has rejected an Iraqi report that said the killings were unprovoked, insisting that his men were fired upon.
“The government is not against security contractors as long as companies stick to the law,” Dabbagh’s statement said. The Baghdad government, which since the Blackwater incident has drafted a law that would regulate the activities of private security contractors, said there must be criteria to punish such companies if they mess up.
“No country in the world allows these companies to do what they do in Iraq,” the statement said. “These companies are providing security for diplomats but it shouldn’t protect them from accountability.” The actions of security escorts, often used by foreign diplomats, are under the microscope in Iraq after two high-profile shootings in busy areas of the capital in the past five weeks.
A roadside bomb exploded near a minibus carrying Shiites to visit relatives yesterday, killing at least three people and wounding nine, police said, while US-led forces staged more raids targeting Shiite extremists in a volatile city south of Baghdad.
The minibus was en route from Baghdad to the predominantly Shiite southern city of Hillah at about 6:30 a.m. when it was struck by the explosion, police said, giving the casualty toll. The attack occurred in Iskandariyah, 50 kilometers south of Baghdad.
Travelers on the main highway linking the two cities have frequently suffered attacks in the mainly Sunni southern belts of Baghdad, although the volatile area seen a recent lull in violence as local Sunni tribal leaders joined forces with US-led forces against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
US-led ground forces backed by two Polish helicopters also came under fire from machine guns and an anti-tank grenade launcher on Friday in eastern Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers south of Baghdad, the military said yesterday.
