Australian security company kills two Iraqi Christian women in car*

Michael Howard in Irbil
Wednesday October 10, 2007
The Guardian

Private security firms in Iraq were under fresh scrutiny last night
after two Iraqi Christian women died in a hail of bullets, apparently
because their car had got too close to a security convoy travelling
through central Baghdad.

The identity of the guards remains unknown but Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi
government spokesman said: "Today's incident is part of a series of
reckless actions by some security companies."

Later reports suggested guards from an Australian-owned security company
based in Dubai, Unity Resources Group, had fired at the women.

An interior ministry spokesman said the company had apologised to the
Iraqi government. The shooting occurred near Unity offices in central
Baghdad's Karradah district.

Michael Priddin, Unity's chief operating officer, issued a statement
saying: "We deeply regret this incident and will continue to pass on
further information when the facts have been verified and the necessary
people and authorities notified."

The deaths came just hours after Iraq's government demanded that the US
security company Blackwater pay a total of $136m (£67m) in compensation
to the families of civilians killed in a shooting in Baghdad last month.
Seventeen people were shot and at least 20 injured when Blackwater
guards protecting a US diplomatic convoy opened fire. Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki's government has urged the US to sever its relations
with the company within six months.

Police at the scene of the shooting said they had collected 19 shell
casings used by Nato forces and by Iraqi security agencies which have
recently received new US weapons. In a scene that has become
depressingly familiar to Baghdad residents, the women were shot after
they drove too close to a convoy of three unmarked four-wheel drives
close to the former German embassy.

One witness said the guards in the convoy, who were reported to be
masked, had fired a warning shot and a smoke bomb in the direction of
the women's car. He said the woman driving appeared to panic and failed
to stop. A police spokesman said their car had then been hit with at
least 16 bullets. The convoy then sped off leaving behind the
blood-stained vehicle. Iraqi police later collected the bodies and towed
the car to a local police station.

The women were described as being Christians. Marou Awanis, 48, was
named as the driver. Relatives said she had been ferrying government
employees to work to raise money to support her daughters. Two children
in the back seat escaped unharmed, police said.

An interior ministry spokesman said the government was committed to
regulating the private security sector. A senior Iraqi policeman said:
"Why is it that when US soldiers commit crimes they go on trial, but
when these thugs shoot innocent people they get away with it?"