Security contractors who gunned down two women work for firm hired by U.S. company doing work for U.S. government

Above: The daughters of Marou Awanis, one of two women killed Tuesday during a funeral service in the Armenian Orthodox Virgin Mary Church in Baghdad today.

U.S. and Iraqi officials Wednesday were investigating yet another shooting of Iraqi civilians by a heavily armed security firm linked to U.S. government-financed work in Iraq...

Iraqi authorities blamed the women's deaths on guards working for Unity Resources Group, a security company owned by Australian partners but with headquarters in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Unity provides security services to RTI International, a group based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, that promotes governance projects in Iraq for the U.S. Agency for International Development...

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said RTI was under contract by USAID but was responsible for its own security.

"USAID does not direct the security arrangements of contractors," Mirembe Nantongo said.

According to the USAID Web site, RTI has about $450 million in U.S. government contracts to work on local governance projects in Iraq. USAID is a semi-autonomous arm of the U.S. State Department that manages American aide programs.

Read the rest at CBS News

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