Blackwater May be Tried in Iraqi Court

US security firm Blackwater could be tried in an Iraqi court over a shootout in a Baghdad neighbourhood which killed eight people, a top judge told AFP on Tuesday.

"This company is subject to Iraqi law and the crime committed was on Iraqi territory and the Iraqi judiciary is responsible for tackling the case," said Abdul Sattar Ghafour Bairaqdar from Iraq's Supreme Judiciary Council, the country's highest court.

On Monday, Iraq's interior ministry ordered the cancellation of Blackwater's operating licence after the company's guards who were escorting US officials were involved in a shootout which killed eight people and wounded 13.

The judge said the case against Blackwater could be filed either by the relatives of the victims or by the government.

The ministry's director of operations Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said the investigation into Sunday's incident was continuing.

The US embassy in Baghdad has said it was in discussions with the Iraqi authorities about the shooting as well as the status of Blackwater's operations in the country.

BAGHDAD
— The Iraqi government said Tuesday it would review the status of
private security companies as anger over the alleged involvement of
Blackwater USA in a fatal shooting of civilians threatened to spread to
other firms providing protection for dignitaries and Westerners on
Iraq's chaotic streets.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for all contracts of
foreign securities firms to be annulled and blamed the government for
failing to protect Iraqis, noting the shootings occurred on a busy
square filled with Iraqi troops.

"This aggression wouldn't have happened had it not been for the
presence of the occupiers who brought these companies," al-Sadr's
political committee said in a statement issued by his office in the
holy city of Najaf.

It also called for a speedy investigation, the referral of those
involved to the Iraqi justice system and compensation for families of
the victims.

A series of bombings, meanwhile, ripped through Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens, police said.

The developments came a day after the government announced it was
ordering Blackwater, the North Carolina-based security firm that
protects U.S. diplomats, to leave the country after what it said was
the fatal shooting of eight Iraqi civilians following a car bomb attack
against a State Department convoy.

Amid allegations that the foreign security contractors operate with
impunity, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Cabinet held a
meeting Tuesday and confirmed that "it is necessary to review the
status of local and foreign private security companies working in Iraq
according to what is suitable with Iraqi laws."

Al-Dabbagh also said the Cabinet supported the Interior Ministry's
decision to withdraw Blackwater's license, expedite an investigation
and ensure all those who attacked civilians were held accountable.

"The company should respect Iraqi laws and the dignity of the citizens," al-Dabbagh said in a statement released by his office.

Order No. 17, a law issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority in
Iraq before the Iraqis regained sovereignty in June 2004, gave the
companies immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

Hassan al-Rubaie, a member of the parliament's Security and Defense
Committee, said an investigative committee has been formed and members
would consider abolishing the immunity law.

"There are reports that they were subjected to fire but this does not give them the right to kill innocent civilians," he said.

Blackwater said the company had not been formally notified of any expulsion.

"Blackwater's independent contractors acted lawfully and
appropriately in response to a hostile attack in Baghdad on Sunday,"
spokeswoman Anne E. Tyrrell said in a statement late Monday.

"The `civilians' reportedly fired upon by Blackwater professionals
were in fact armed enemies and Blackwater personnel returned defensive
fire," she said. "Blackwater regrets any loss of life but this convoy
was violently attacked by armed insurgents, not civilians, and our
people did their job to defend human life."

But Sunday's shooting has touched a nerve among Iraqis already
angered over the presence of so many visible, aggressive Western
security contractors, whom many consider part of a mercenary force that
runs roughshod over people in their own country.

It was the latest in a series of incidents in which Blackwater and
other foreign contractors have been accused of shooting to death Iraqi
citizens. None has faced charges or prosecution.

The events in Mansour also illustrate the challenge of trying to
protect U.S. officials in a city where car bombs can explode at any
time, and where gunmen blend in with the civilian population.

In one of the most horrific attacks of the war, four Blackwater
employees were ambushed and killed in Fallujah in 2004 and their
charred bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned al-Maliki late Monday
and the two agreed to conduct a fair and transparent investigation.

The U.S. clearly hoped the Iraqis would be satisfied with an
investigation, a finding of responsibility and compensation to the
victims' families — and not insist on expelling a company that the
Americans cannot operate here without.

Details of Sunday's incident were unclear.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians
were killed and 13 were wounded when contractors believed to be working
for Blackwater USA opened fire on civilians in the predominantly Sunni
neighborhood of Mansour in western Baghdad.

"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from
working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to
Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said.

He said witness reports pointed to Blackwater involvement but added
that the shooting was still under investigation. One witness, Hussein
Abdul-Abbas, said the explosion was followed by about 20 minutes of
heavy gunfire and "everybody in the street started to flee immediately."

U.S. officials said the motorcade was traveling through Nisoor
Square on the way back to the Green Zone when the car bomb exploded,
followed by volleys of small-arms fire that disabled one of the
vehicles but caused no American casualties.

American officials refused to explain the legal authority under
which Blackwater operates in Iraq or say whether the company was
complying with the order. It also was unclear whether the contractors
involved in the shooting were still in Iraq.

The deadliest attack on Tuesday was a car bombing that occurred in a
parking lot near the Health Ministry and a medical complex in central
Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 23.

Another parked car bomb targeted a police patrol in Palestine Street, killing two civilians and wounding six.

A parked car bomb also struck a busy market in northern Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 26.

Maitham Mustafa, 27, who has a kiosk about 150 yards away from the blast, was wounded by broken glass.

"The explosion was so powerful. It took place a few minutes before
midday prayers," he said, his clothes soaked with blood as he helped
evacuate victims. "We rushed to the site and we saw a car on fire,
pieces of flesh were scattered and there were pools of blood on the
street."

Two roadside bombs also killed a policeman and two civilians and
wounded eight other people in separate attacks in predominantly Shiite
areas of eastern Baghdad. The violence was reported by police officials
who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
release the information.