BAGHDAD, Iraq — Private security guards from an Australian-run firm opened fire on a white sedan in downtown Baghdad on Tuesday afternoon, killing two Iraqi women who were driving home from work.
The killings came at a time of scrutiny into the behavior of Western private security guards, seen by many Iraqis as reckless mercenaries with little regard for Iraqi life. In an incident last month involving Blackwater USA, guards killed as many as 17 people.
Tuesday’s shooting involved Unity Resources Group, a Dubai-based company founded by an Australian. The firm was employed by RTI International, a nonprofit organization that does governance work in Iraq on a contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The two Iraqi women were shot as they came up behind a convoy of the firm’s sport utility vehicles.
“They used excessive force against civilians. Two ladies have been killed,” said Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. “They are facing a high level of threat, but this does not entitle them not to be subjected to justice, law and accountability.”
Both the company and the Interior Ministry have launched investigations into the incident.
Four SUVs belonging to Unity were heading east along a six-lane divided thoroughfare in central Baghdad. The white Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, carrying four people — including at least three women — drove toward the convoy from behind, witnesses said.
Iraqi police investigating the incident said the gunner in the last vehicle threw open a door and tossed what looked like a flare, then fired at least 19 rounds into the Oldsmobile.
According to Unity’s chief operating officer, Michael Priddin, the women drove up quickly and “failed to stop despite escalation of warnings” including “hand signals and a signal flare.”
“Finally shots were fired at the vehicle and it stopped in close vicinity to the security team,” Priddin said. “We deeply regret the firing of shots.”
Iraqi police and witnesses at the scene gave differing accounts. Some said the Oldsmobile kept driving toward the convoy while others said it had stopped a safe distance away. They agreed that the car posed no threat to the security guards.
The gunfire sparked chaos on the street as pedestrians ran for cover. A horse pulling a cart galloped away without its owner. Traffic police officers thought insurgents were attacking.
“I am shaking as I am trying to describe to you what happened,” said Ahmed Kadhim Hussein, a police officer at the scene. “These were innocent people. Is it so natural for them to shoot innocent people?”
The shots killed the driver, Marou Awanis, and the front-seat passenger, relatives said. After her husband died about two years ago from heart trouble, Awanis made money to support her three daughters by driving friends home from work, said Lida Sarkis, her niece.
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