Nov 19, 2007 6:50 pm US/Central
Iraq Arrests 2 U.S. Guards After Shooting
BAGHDAD (CBS News) ―
Iraqi troops detained 43 people, most Sri Lankans and other foreigners, in a convoy run by a U.S.-contracted firm after an Iraqi woman was wounded in a Baghdad shooting involving their vehicles, the U.S. military said. It denied reports that two Americans were also arrested.
U.S. military and embassy officials had no immediate information about the report, which follows a series of recent shootings in which foreign security guards have allegedly killed Iraqis.
Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the convoy was driving on the wrong side of the road in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah when the shooting occurred.
Those arrested included two American guards, along with 41 people from Sri Lanka, nine from Nepal and 10 Iraqis, the Baghdad military spokesman said. He earlier said an Italian, nine from Bangladesh and one from India were detained but later retracted that statement.
"We have given orders to our security forces to immediately intervene in case they see any violations by security companies. The members of this security company wounded an innocent woman and they tried to escape the scene, but Iraq forces arrested them," al-Moussawi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The role of private security guards has become controversial following a Sept. 16 shooting in which Blackwater Worldwide guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is continuing its investigation into the shootings, although the Iraqi government has concluded that the security guards were unprovoked when they began shooting at an intersection at Nisoor Square in western Baghdad.
The North Carolina-based company, the largest private security firm protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, has said its security convoy was under attack before it opened fire.
In Other Developments:- The U.S. military plans to seek a criminal case in an Iraqi court against an award-winning Associated Press photographer but is refusing to disclose what evidence or accusations would be presented. An AP attorney on Monday strongly protested the decision, calling the U.S. military plans a "sham of due process." The journalist, Bilal Hussein, has already been imprisoned without charges for more than 19 months. A public affairs officer notified the AP on Sunday that the military intends to submit a written complaint against Hussein that would bring the case into the Iraqi justice system as early as Nov. 29. Under Iraqi codes, an investigative magistrate will decide whether there are grounds to try Hussein, 36, who was seized in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on April 12, 2006.
- Five Western security contractors kidnapped a year ago in Iraq are still alive, their employer said Monday, stressing that authorities are exerting all efforts to secure their release. The four Americans and one Austrian colleague employed by the Kuwait-based Crescent Security Group were among 14 people kidnapped Nov. 16, 2006, by men in Iraqi police uniforms who ambushed a convoy they were escorting near the southern Iraqi border city of Safwan. Crescent managing partner Franco Picco said "we do have an idea where they are." The families of some of the men have complained in the past that the U.S. government has keep them in the dark about efforts to free the men.
- A car bomb exploded in front of a police officer's house on the outskirts of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, on Monday. Ten people were wounded, police said.
- On Sunday in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives as American soldiers were handing out toys to children, killing at least three children and three of the troopers, U.S. and Iraqi authorities said.
- Despite a reported decline in violence in Iraq, Northern Iraq has become more violent than other regions as militants move there to avoid coalition operations elsewhere, the region's top U.S. commander said Monday. "What you're seeing is the enemy shifting," Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from outside Tikrit in northern Iraq.
- Fran Townsend, the leading White House-based terrorism adviser who gave public updates on the extent of the threat to U.S. security, is stepping down after 4½ years. Her departure continues an exodus of key Bush aides and confidants, with his two-term presidency in its final 15 months.
- Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain will make his seventh trip to Iraq over the coming Thanksgiving holiday period, a campaign adviser said Monday. The senator will be part of a small congressional delegation making the trip.
- Three members of Iraq's Olympic soccer team and their assistant coach left the team during a trip to Australia and are seeking asylum in the country, Iraq's soccer federation said Monday.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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