Iraqi Government to Deal Firmly With Security Firms that Break the Law

VOANews (2007-11-20)

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By VOA News
20 November 2007

The Iraqi government has warned it will deal firmly with private security companies that break the law.

Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier General Qassim Moussawi issued the warning Tuesday, one day after 43 people, mostly foreigners, were detained following the shooting of an Iraqi woman.

He says the convoy involved in Monday's shooting was driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the shooting in Baghdad's Karrada district.

A U.S. military spokesman says the convoy belonged to Almco Group, a Dubai-based company that has contracts with the U.S. military to provide food and water.

Iraqi forces detained 10 Iraqis, 21 Sri Lankans, nine Nepalese, two Fijians and one Indian.

The shooting is one of several recent incidents involving private security companies in Iraq. In the deadliest shooting, guards with the firm Blackwater USA opened fire in Baghdad in September, killing 17 people.

Blackwater says its guards were responding lawfully to an attack, while initial U.S. and Iraqi military investigations say the shooting was unprovoked.

In other news Tuesday, the U.S. military says coalition forces killed 17 terrorists and detained 16 suspects in operations since Sunday targeting terrorist networks in Iraq. It says during a raid east of Samarra, forces discovered an al-Qaida in Iraq detention facility that contained the bodies of two bound and shackled men.

Separately, a car bomb blast in the Baiyaa district of Baghdad killed one person and injured six people.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.