Rice apologises for US security firm shootings

· Move to prevent Iraq government expulsions
· Blackwater guards blamed for deaths of eight civilians

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Tuesday September 18, 2007
The Guardian

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, apologised to the Iraqi government yesterday in an attempt to prevent the expulsion of all employees of the security firm Blackwater USA.

The ministry of interior yesterday took the decision to expel Blackwater after eight Iraqi civilians were killed and 13 wounded in Baghdad when shots were fired from a US state department convoy on Sunday.