Baghdad, Oct 10 (DPA) An Iraqi official has said that convoy guards who killed two Iraqi women in Baghdad worked for an Australian private security firm.
Personnel working for an Australian security firm were involved in the shooting deaths of two women Tuesday, General Abdel Karim Khalaf, head of the Interior Ministry’s National Command Centre, told state broadcaster al-Iraqya TV.
The incident occurred when a convoy of four white, four-wheel drive vehicles were passing in Baghdad’s district of Karada when another car carrying women passengers was driving close, Khalaf said.
He said that guards in the white vehicles opened fire on the car, killing two women with 19 shots.
The firm admitted its responsibility and made a formal apology to the Iraqi government. Its director said it would open an inquiry into the incident and pledged to pay full compensation to the families of the slain women, Khalaf said.
The Iraqi government has opened a separate inquiry into the incident, according to Khalaf.
The killings follow a government investigation that blamed another foreign security firm, the US-based Blackwater USA, for deliberately killing civilians in a shooting incident in September in Baghdad.