Iraq to review security firms after shooting

By Aseel Kami and Dominic Evans

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will review the status of all security companies after this week's "flagrant assault" by contractors from the U.S. firm Blackwater in which 11 people were shot dead, the government said on Tuesday.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the cabinet backed an Interior Ministry decision to "halt the license" of Blackwater, which provides security for the U.S. embassy, and launch an immediate investigation into the shooting.

He later said that the Iraqi and U.S. governments had set up a joint committee to investigate the killings which occurred when Blackwater contractors opened fire randomly after mortar rounds landed near to their convoy in western Baghdad on Sunday.

Fiery anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, adding his voice to Iraqi anger over the incident, urged the government to "cancel this company's work, and the rest of the criminal and intelligence companies".

Estimates of the number of security contractors employed by mainly U.S. and European firms across Iraq range from between 25,000 and 48,000.

In fresh violence, four car bombs in Baghdad killed 17 people and wounded 50, police said.

An explosion near a U.S. patrol also killed three soldiers and wounded three others in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, the military said. It gave no details on the type of explosion, but many soldiers are killed by roadside bombs.

"Cabinet affirmed ... the need to review the situation of foreign and local security companies working in Iraq, in accordance with Iraqi laws," Dabbagh said.

"This came after the flagrant assault conducted by members of the American security company Blackwater against Iraqi citizens," he said in a statement after the cabinet meeting.

Blackwater said its guards reacted "lawfully and appropriately" to a hostile attack. It said late on Monday it had received no official notice from Iraq's Interior Ministry.

The White House said it deeply regretted any loss of innocent life in Iraq but stressed that U.S. officials there needed to be protected.

"It is important that people who are there, working for the State Department and other departments across the federal government, are given the protection that they need," Dana Perino told reporters in Washington. "Obviously, it's in a war zone and they can come under attack," he added.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington the U.S. government had not been officially informed that Blackwater's license had been withdrawn.

He told reporters that the jurisdiction over any crimes that might have been committed would depend on the circumstances and stressed the State Department does not know whether any rules or laws were broken despite the loss of "innocent" life.

LEGAL STATUS UNCLEAR