The Iraqi government announced it was ordering Blackwater USA, the security firm that protects US diplomats, to leave the country after what it said was the fatal shooting of eight Iraqi civilians following a car bomb attack against a US State Department convoy.
The order on Monday by the Interior Ministry, if carried out, would deal a severe blow to US government operations in Iraq by stripping diplomats, engineers, reconstruction officials and others of their security protection.
The presence of so many visible, aggressive Western security contractors has angered many Iraqis, who consider them a mercenary force that runs roughshod over people in their own country.
Sunday's shooting was the latest in a series of incidents in which Blackwater and other foreign contractors have been accused of shooting to death Iraqi citizens.
None has faced charges or prosecution.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki late on Monday and the two agreed to conduct a "fair and transparent investigation" and hold any wrongdoers accountable, said Yassin Majid, an adviser to the prime minister.
Rice was expected to visit the region yesterday.
US Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Rice "told the prime minister that we were investigating this incident and wanted to gain a full understanding of what happened."
Majid made no mention of the order to expel Blackwater, and it was unlikely the US would agree to abandon a security company that plays such a critical role in US operations in Iraq.
The US clearly hoped the Iraqis would be satisfied with an investigation, a finding of responsibility and compensation to the victims' families -- and not insist on expelling a company without which the US cannot operate in Iraq.
Details of Sunday's incident were unclear.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 wounded when contractors believed to be working for Blackwater opened fire in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood.
"We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said.
He said witness reports pointed to Blackwater involvement but added that the shooting was still under investigation. One witness, Hussein Abdul-Abbas, said the explosion was followed by about 20 minutes of heavy gunfire and "everybody in the street started to flee immediately."
Blackwater said the company had not been formally notified of any expulsion.
"Blackwater's independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack in Baghdad on Sunday," spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said in a statement late on Monday.
US officials refused to explain the legal authority under which Blackwater operates in Iraq or say whether the company was complying with the order. It also was unclear whether the contractors involved in the shooting were still in Iraq.
Despite threats of prosecution, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Alhurra television that contractors could not be prosecuted by Iraqi courts because "some of them have immunity."
But a jop judge yesterday told reporters that Blackwater could be tried in an Iraqi court.
"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.
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