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Iraqi Toll in Blackwater Shooting Rises to 20

HeadlineSep 19, 2007

The private military contractor Blackwater is now believed to have killed 20 Iraqi civilians in a mass shooting Sunday in Baghdad. The Iraqi government revoked Blackwater’s license amidst reports nine civilians were killed when Blackwater guards opened fire. Blackwater says it responded after coming under attack from a roadside bomb. But in its initial report on the shooting, Iraq’s Interior Ministry says the guards shot at a small vehicle that failed to make way for Blackwater’s convoy to pass. An Iraqi couple and their infant were killed in the attack. The New York Times reports video footage of the shooting shows the child burned to the mother’s body after their car caught fire. Blackwater guards and helicopters are then believed to have fired indiscriminately. One survivor of the attack told McClatchy Newspapers the Blackwater guards shot at a gathering of maintenance workers, two more cars, and a mini-bus full of Iraqi girls. Both the survivor and another witness say they did not hear any explosions or gunfire before the Blackwater guards began shooting.

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