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Security guards 'kill two Iraqis' Security guards 'kill two Iraqis'
(about 2 hours later)
Private security guards have killed two Iraqi women in central Baghdad, Iraqi police have reported. Private security guards have killed two Iraqi women in central Baghdad, Iraqi officials and eyewitnesses say.
The security company involved in the incident has not been named.The security company involved in the incident has not been named.
The deaths come after an Iraqi investigation reported that guards from the US firm Blackwater deliberately fired on Iraqi civilians, killing 17.The deaths come after an Iraqi investigation reported that guards from the US firm Blackwater deliberately fired on Iraqi civilians, killing 17.
Anger at the incident last month is running high in Iraq. The government has demanded that the US end its association with Blackwater. Anger over the incident last month is running high, and Iraq is demanding that the US end its association with the firm, which denies wrongdoing.
The Iraqi government has demanded Blackwater pay $8m (£3.9m) compensation to each family bereaved by last month's shootings. Witnesses to Tuesday's incident in the Karada area of Baghdad say the security guards signalled to a woman driving a car to pull over as they passed.
Blackwater denies its men acted improperly, insisting they returned fire. When she did not stop, the masked guards reportedly threw a smoke bomb and then opened fire, killing the driver and her passenger.
Witnesses to Tuesday's incident in the Karada area of Baghdad said the security guards signalled to a woman driving a car to pull over as they passed. Witnesses say the guards were part of the escort for a civilian convoy. It is not clear what their nationality was.
When she did not, they opened fire, killing her and a passenger. 'No value'
Witnesses say the guards were part of the escort for a civilian convoy. Relatives at a local police station identified the dead women as Marou Awanis, 48, and Geneva Jalal, 30, both members of Iraq's small Christian minority.
"These are innocent people killed by people who have no heart. The Iraqi people have no value to them," said a relative quoted by Associated Press news agency.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh confirmed civilians had been attacked and said an investigation was under way "to find which security company it was".
A US embassy spokeswoman quoted by Reuters news agency said the convoy had not been carrying its staff.
The incident comes a day after the Iraqi government demanded the security firm Blackwater pay $8m (£3.9m) compensation to each family bereaved by last month's shootings.
The controversial security firm has the contract for guarding US embassy staff in Baghdad, as well as visiting businesspeople and officials.
It insists its staff were acting in legitimate self-defence in last month's shooting, and that they had come under fire from insurgents.
Private security firms have been granted immunity by Iraq's US-backed administrations since the fall for Saddam Hussein, but following the Blackwater affair the Baghdad government vowed to put them under Iraqi jurisdiction.