http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6998788.stm
Iraq pulls security firm contract
Aftermath of a car bombing and shoot-out in Baghdad
The Iraqi interior ministry has said it will investigate Sunday's incident
Iraq has cancelled the licence of the private security contractor, Blackwater USA, after it was involved in a gunfight that killed eight civilians.
The Iraqi interior ministry said the firm, based in North Carolina, was now banned from operating anywhere in Iraq.
The Blackwater workers, who were contracted by the US state department, apparently opened fire after coming under attack in Baghdad on Sunday.
Thousands of private security guards are employed in lawless Iraq.
They are often heavily armed, but critics say some are not properly trained and are not accountable except to their employers.
The interior ministry's director of operations, Maj Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, said authorities would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force.
"We have opened a criminal investigation against the group who committed the crime," he told the AFP news agency.
Iraq pulls security firm contract
Aftermath of a car bombing and shoot-out in Baghdad
The Iraqi interior ministry has said it will investigate Sunday's incident
Iraq has cancelled the licence of the private security contractor, Blackwater USA, after it was involved in a gunfight that killed eight civilians.
The Iraqi interior ministry said the firm, based in North Carolina, was now banned from operating anywhere in Iraq.
The Blackwater workers, who were contracted by the US state department, apparently opened fire after coming under attack in Baghdad on Sunday.
Thousands of private security guards are employed in lawless Iraq.
They are often heavily armed, but critics say some are not properly trained and are not accountable except to their employers.
The interior ministry's director of operations, Maj Gen Abdul Karim Khalaf, said authorities would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force.
"We have opened a criminal investigation against the group who committed the crime," he told the AFP news agency.