Iraq determined to rein in private guards

Iraq, Iraq said on Monday it was determined to rein in private security contractors, a day after accusing guards from the US company Blackwater of deliberately gunning down civilians in a Baghdad square.

An Iraqi government report has said 17 people died in the unprovoked shooting and 22 were wounded.

"We have set strict mechanisms to control the behaviour of the security companies and their conduct in the streets," interior ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf told a news conference in Baghdad.

Iraq's government on Sunday vowed to punish US-based Blackwater after an inquiry found that its guards were not provoked when they opened fire on civilians on September 16 in Baghdad in Nisoor square.

"The investigation committee appointed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki... has finished its inquiry and has found that there was no evidence that the convoy of Blackwater came under fire directly or indirectly," a government statement said.

"It was not touched even by a stone," it added.

"Employees of the company violated the rules governing use of force by security companies. They have committed a deliberate crime and should be punished under the law."

The Iraqi government would now take "judicial measures to punish the company," the statement said.

Blackwater, one of the biggest security firms working in Iraq with around 1,000 staff is employed to protect US government personnel in the country. It maintains its men were legitimately responding to an ambush while escorting a US State Department convoy.

The US embassy was tight-lipped on whether those involved in the killings would be handed over for prosecution in a case that has thrown the spotlight on the murky world of private security operators in Iraq.

Baghdad, Tuesday, AFP