Dubai firm in hot water over Iraq killing

Dubai-based Unity Resources Group yesterday admitted their involvement in a shooting incident in Karrada district in Iraq saying that the company is working with the Iraqi authorities investigating the incident.

This is the second time a private contractor has been accused of killing civilians without any provocation or threat perception in less than a month. Earlier the Iraqi government had accused a US based security company, Blackwater, of ‘deliberately’ killing 17 Iraqi civilians on September 16 in Western Bagdad.

A statement issued to the media here yesterday by Michael Priddin, Chief Operating Officer of Unity Resources Group said its guards opened fire on a car as its driver ignored all signals to stop.

“We are aware that there has been a shooting incident in the Karrada area of Baghdad involving one of the security teams belonging to Unity Resources Group. At this time we are awaiting details of the exact circumstances. 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,” the statement said.

“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 statement added.

The Unity Group has been operating in Iraq since 2004 and has an operating licence to work as a private security company. The killing in the district of Karrada came the same day the Iraqi government demanded US security company Blackwater pay families of 17 people killed in a shooting last month $8 million each in compensation.

The Blackwater shooting in western Baghdad last month triggered outrage among Iraqis who see such security contractors as private armies that act with impunity.

Meanwhile news agencies quoted US embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo, referring to Tuesday’s incident, as saying as “there may be a contractual relationship with a US non-governmental organisation. However, she did not explain further. Reuters Television quoted shopkeeper Basim Mohammed saying as four or five vehicles were driving down the road when the shooting happened.

“An Oldsmobile came out of this side road and it had two women in the front and children in the back,” he said.

“They fired a warning shot when they were about 80 metres away, which probably made them panic because they went forward a little bit, and (the security guards) started firing at her from all directions,” Mohammed said.

Unity Resources Group is on a US State Department list of security firms doing business in Iraq.

Foreign security firms have immunity from Iraqi law under a 2004 regulation written while Iraq was under U.S. administration following the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

The September 16 incident sparked a larger U.S. inquiry into private contractors in Iraq, while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered tighter controls on Blackwater.—With agency inputs