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Soldier Report Finds Blackwater Fired Unprovoked

HeadlineOct 12, 2007

Evidence continues to mount that last month’s killing of at least 17 Iraqi civilians by Blackwater guards was unprovoked. According to The Washington Post, a newly disclosed report compiled by the first U.S. soldiers on the scene found no evidence Iraqis had fired on the Blackwater convoy. The soldiers also concluded Blackwater guards continued to shoot at Iraqi civilians as they tried to flee the scene. Two civilian vehicles had their back windshields shot out but had no damage to their front windshields, indicating they were shot while driving away. In another new detail, a vehicle carrying a doctor and her son had not even entered the Nisoor Square traffic circle from where the Blackwater guards opened fire. The soldiers concluded there was “no enemy activity involved” in what they called a “criminal event.” The report came as a survivor of the shooting and relatives of three of the dead filed a suit against Blackwater in U.S. court.

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