Iraq to review all security firms

Iraq to investigate security firms

Blackwater provides security to US diplomats and "assets" in Iraq [AFP]

Iraq is to review the status of all private security companies working in the country, after a deadly shooting on Sunday involving guards from the US firm Blackwater.

 

The government announced the investigation on Tuesday, after the interior ministry decided to "halt the licence" of Blackwater, which provides security to US diplomats in Iraq.

Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, announced the decision "to review the operations of foreign and local security companies in Iraq".

 

He said: "This came after the flagrant assault conducted by members of the American security company Blackwater against Iraqi citizens."

In a related development, the US embassy in Baghdad suspended all diplomatic convoys outside the heavily fortified Green Zone and the rest of Iraq.