Dubai-based security company in Baghdad shooting

By Mariam Karouny and Haider Salahuddin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A foreign security company said it was involved in a shooting in central Baghdad on Tuesday, making it the second time a private contractor has been accused of killing Iraqi civilians in less than a month.

Dubai-based Unity Resources Group said in a statement its guards had opened fire on a car which failed to stop. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said two women were shot dead in their car by foreign security guards on Tuesday in what he called an "unprovoked" attack.

The Iraqi government has accused U.S. security firm Blackwater of "deliberately killing" 17 Iraqis on September 16.

The Blackwater shooting in western Baghdad last month caused outrage among Iraqis who see security contractors as private armies that act with impunity.

"The first information that we have is that our security team was approached at speed by a vehicle which failed to stop despite an escalation of warnings which included hand signals and a signal flare," Unity Resources Group, said in a statement. "Finally shots were fired at the vehicle and it stopped."

U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo, referring to Tuesday's incident, said "there may be a contractual relationship" with a U.S. non-governmental organization (NGO). She did not elaborate.

The killing in the district of Karrada came the same day the Iraqi government demanded U.S. security company Blackwater pay families of 17 people killed in a shooting last month $8 million each in compensation.

According to Unity Resources Group's Web site it has worked in Iraq since 2004 and has an operating license to work as a private security company.