2 Iraqi women killed in car by private guards
Private body guards shot and killed two Iraqi women in Baghdad today when their car rolled toward the rear of a security convoy working for a North Carolina-based non-profit group. Two children in the back seat survived unharmed, according to news reports.
The Iraqi government said Dubai-based Unity Resources Group was responsible. The firm has operated in Iraq since 2004 and employs security personnel from the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said the company had apologized after guards in four SUVs raked the white Oldsmobile with 19 bullets at an intersection, instantly killing the women.The Associated Pressreport identifies them as being Christians.
“They apologized and said they are ready to meet all the legal commitments,” he said.
Here’s what Unity Resources spokesman Michael Priddin had to say about the incident:
“The first information that we have is that our security team was approached at speed by a vehicle, which failed to stop despite an escalation of warnings which included hand signals and a signal flare. Finally shots were fired at the vehicle and it stopped.”
“We deeply regret this incident,” Priddin said. No casualties were mentioned.
Citing an unnamed American official, the New York Times says the security convoy was working for RTI International, a non-profit providing advice for local and city governments that was working for the United States Agency for International Development. No RTI employees were in the convoy’s vehicles at the time, however, said RTI spokesman Patrick Gibbons.
Across Iraq today, 56 people died in violence, including 22 in coordinated suicide car bombings aimed at a police chief and Sunni sheik working with U.S. forces, Reuters reports.
source: usa today
