On Monday Iraq’s interior ministry banned the North Carolina company from undertaking any more work in the country.
Rice hopes her apology will reverse a decision to expel all Blackwater employees from the country. Interior miinistry officials said the two men involved in the incident, which left a further 13 people injured, will be required to stay in Iraq to stand trial.
Jawad al-Bolani, the interior minister, said, “This is such a big crime that we can’t stay silent. Anyone who wants to have good relations with Iraq has to respect Iraqis.”
US state department spokesman Tom Casey said, “The secretary called Prime Minister Maliki to express her regret over the death of innocent civilians that occurred during the attack on an embassy convoy.”
He said Rice and Maliki agreed on the importance of working closely together in the time ahead on a ‘transparent investigation’ into the shootings.
Reports suggest that the men “opened fire randomly at citizens” after mortars landed near the US convoy they were charged with protecting.
Westerners and foreign diplomats are said to be heavily reliant on the work of Blackwater, which has 1,000 employees in Iraq. Tens of thousands of private security contractors from other companies – some British – are thought to be working in the lawless country.
Sunday’s violence came after a random survey of Iraqis suggested that up to 1.2m people could have died in the country since the US-led invasion in 2003.