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Officials establish panel to defuse security firm crisis

Iraqi and US officials have set up a joint panel in a bid to defuse a crisis over the killing of civilians in a shootout involving US security firm Blackwater, an Iraqi official said yesterday.

The panel will attempt to thrash out a compromise that would allow Blackwater, which provides protection to US embassy staff and other US officials, to continue its operations in Iraq, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

"Iraqi and US officials have set up a joint committee to decide how this issue can be resolved," Dabbagh said. "The committee will begin its work today."

US officials have been barred from travelling by land outside Baghdad's Green Zone amid fears of attacks after Sunday's incident in which Blackwater guards escorting US embassy officials opened fire in a Baghdad neighborhood, killing 10 people and wounding 13.

"In light of a serious security incident involving a US embassy protective detail in ... Baghdad, the embassy has suspended official US government civilian ground movements outside the [Green Zone] and throughout Iraq," the embassy said in a notice.

"This suspension is in effect in order to assess mission security and procedures, as well as a possible increased threat to personnel travelling with security details outside the International Zone," the notice said.

The Iraqi government said on Monday it would revoke the license of the US firm -- one of the largest private security operators in Iraq -- and a top Iraqi judge has said Blackwater could face trial over the incident.

However, Dabbagh said the ban would not be permanent.

"We understand that this company is giving security to embassy staff so we don't want to revoke their license permanently," he said.

"We want them [to] operate within the laws of Iraq. They used effective fire against civilians and we don't want this to happen again. We will decide the course of action to be taken [in talks with US officials]," Dabbagh said.

"It is not against the American government. This is a technical matter and we need to discuss with the Americans how we deal with this," he said.

US and Iraqi sources said the shooting erupted after a bomb exploded near a US diplomatic convoy, but a US government incident report said armed insurgents had fired on the convoy and Blackwater guards responded.

Blackwater said its contractors "acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack."
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