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Guards Kill Baghdad Taxi Driver

Workers for security contractor accused of unprovoked slaying

By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 12, 2007 10:05 AM CST
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(Newser) – A convoy run by American security contractor DynCorp International shot and killed an Iraqi taxi driver on a Baghdad roadside Saturday, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said yesterday. “They just killed a man and drove away,” said a spokesman. Witnesses said the driver posed no apparent threat; an Iraqi policeman who examined the car found no explosives, the Times reports.

The taxi driver had pulled his car to the side of the road and had his hazard light flashing, witnesses said. A spokesman for DynCorp said the team in question reported firing its weapons in the incident but was unaware that anyone was wounded or killed. “We knew that we had fired at the front of the vehicle,” he said. “We were kind of surprised that there was a death.”

 

Members of a private security company pose on a rooftop in this file photo. Iraqi sources said an employee of private security contractor DynCorp International shot an Iraqi taxi driver unprovoked over the weekend. It's DynCorp's first brush with Blackwater-like trouble in Iraq.
Members of a private security company pose on a rooftop in this file photo. Iraqi sources said an employee of private security contractor DynCorp International shot an Iraqi taxi driver unprovoked over...   (Getty Images)
An Iraqi policeman holds up his weapon while patrolling the streets of south Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 12, 2007. The Iraqi police and the U.S. army conducted a joint foot patrol in Dora Monday. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
An Iraqi policeman holds up his weapon while patrolling the streets of south Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 12, 2007. The Iraqi police and the U.S. army conducted a joint foot patrol...   (Associated Press)
An Iraqi policeman walks in a market while patrolling the streets of south Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 12, 2007. The Iraqi police and the U.S. army conducted a joint foot patrol in Dora Monday. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
An Iraqi policeman walks in a market while patrolling the streets of south Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 12, 2007. The Iraqi police and the U.S. army conducted a joint foot patrol in...   (Associated Press)
Iraqi soldiers search a taxi in central Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007.(AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)
Iraqi soldiers search a taxi in central Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007.(AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)   (Associated Press)
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DynCorp
Wikipedia

Bloggers on the difference between DynCorp and Blackwater
Talking Points Memo

DynCorp's official website
dyn-intl.com

 
Iraq • Blackwater • DynCorp International • Iraqi security forces • security guards • security contractors

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