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July 24, 2008 11:41:50 PM CDT

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Blackwater Guard Kept Blasting 'After Call to Stop'

Posted Sep 28, 07 11:16 AM CDT in US,  World 

(Newser) – At least one Blackwater security guard continued firing at Iraqis, despite colleagues' call to stop during the incendiary incident earlier this month that killed at least eight civilians, witnesses have told investigators. Another guard for the private security firm is said to have pointed his gun at a fellow employee who didn't stop firing, reports the New York Times.

The accounts are the first details to emerge in a US investigation of the shooting. American authorities have questioned guards' decision to break with protocol and rush diplomats out of a secure compound after a bombing instead of waiting for the scene to calm down. The shooting then began as the diplomats exited the zone. Blackwater officials have insisted the guards were being fired upon.

Source New York Times

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Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-SD, right, references quote about Blackwater on a chart at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing entitled "Abuses in Private Security and Reconstruction Contracting in Iraq   (Associated Press)
FILE **Two FBI Special Agent Bomb Technicians investigate the site where a military armored bus was damaged by a roadside bomb on the highway near Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad, Iraq in this...   (Associated Press)
Soad Ali, right, tends to her husband, Hassan Jabir, 37, as he recovers from gunshot wounds in a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007. Jabir, a lawyer, says he was in his car in the Mansour...   (Associated Press)
A private contractor gestures to their colleagues flying over in a helicopter as they secure the scene of a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq in this Tuesday, July 5, 2005 file photo. A top aide to...   (Associated Press)
An armored sport-utility vehicle manned by private security contractors passes through central Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007. The killing of at least 11 civilians allegedly involving Blackwater...   (Associated Press)
Iraqis watch a passing U.S. Marine patrol next to a bridge across the Euphrates River in Fallujah, the site of the largest U.S. battle in Iraq, 65 kilometers (40 miles), west of Baghdad, Iraq, in this...   (Associated Press)
An Iraqi traffic policeman inspects a car destroyed by a Blackwater security detail in an incident that killed at least eight Iraqi civilians.   (Associated Press)
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Baghdad  • Blackwater  • investigation  • Green Zone  • Iraq violence  • private security firm


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