Washington - A private security guard may have pointed a gun at fellow Blackwater USA employees in an attempt to halt a barrage of gunfire during a September 16 incident in Baghdad, the Washington Post reported Friday, citing State Department and other US sources. The shootout involving a private security escort for US State Department personnel led Iraqi officials to threaten criminal prosecutions for excessive force and to suspend temporarily operations by Blackwater, the best-known of numerous security companies working in the Iraqi war zone.
At least 10 Iraqis were killed in the incident.
The Post quoted a US official familiar with the investigation as saying that witnesses involved said that a Blackwater contractor resorted to threatening force while shouting "stop shooting."
A two-page, preliminary report on incident, compiled by US embassy staff based solely on accounts from Blackwater guards immediately afterward on September 16, was also obtained by the Post.
The report describes three teams of Blackwater guards escorting an embassy official to a compound within 2 kilometres of the so-called Green Zone, Baghdad's heavily fortified government district and diplomatic quarter.
After an explosion nearby, the official was returned to the Green Zone, while at least one team of guards was caught in an ambush with combatants, some of whom were dressed as Iraqi police.
Iraqi government officials said that the shooting by Blackwater guards was unprovoked.
