Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Blackwater can be tried in Iraqi court: judge

BAGHDAD (AFP) — US security firm Blackwater could be tried in an Iraqi court over a shootout in a Baghdad neighbourhood which killed eight people, a top judge told AFP on Tuesday.

"This company is subject to Iraqi law and the crime committed was on Iraqi territory and the Iraqi judiciary is responsible for tackling the case," said Abdul Sattar Ghafour Bairaqdar from Iraq's Supreme Judiciary Council, the country's highest court.

On Monday, Iraq's interior ministry ordered the cancellation of Blackwater's operating licence after the company's guards who were escorting US officials were involved in a shootout which killed eight people and wounded 13.

The judge said the case against Blackwater could be filed either by the relatives of the victims or by the government.

The ministry's director of operations Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said the investigation into Sunday's incident was continuing.

The US embassy in Baghdad has said it was in discussions with the Iraqi authorities about the shooting as well as the status of Blackwater's operations in the country.

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