Iraq PM criticises Blackwater

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has told the US embassy to stop using American security firm Blackwater after a deadly shooting.

Iraq has said it would review the status of all security firms after what it called a flagrant assault by Blackwater contractors in which 11 people were killed while the firm was escorting a US embassy convoy through Baghdad on Sunday.

Mr Maliki said: "We will not allow Iraqis to be killed in cold blood. What happened was a crime. It has left a deep grudge and anger, both inside the government and among the Iraqi people.

"It is in (our) interests to freeze the work of this company and the embassy can travel with other companies."

The shooting has incensed Iraqis who regard the tens of thousands of security contractors working in the country as private armies that act with impunity.

At issue for many Iraqis is sovereignty, given that security firms appear to have immunity from Iraqi law under a 2004 regulation written while Iraq was under US administration following the toppling of Saddam Hussein the year before.

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