US military denies private guards killed Iraqi civilian

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

BAGHDAD (AFP) — The US military on Friday denied that an Iraqi had been shot dead a day ago in Baghdad by private guards working for a foreign security company.

"We have looked into this and have confirmed that this is an unsubstantiated report," the military said in a statement to AFP.

On Thursday, Iraqi security officials from the interior and defence ministries said one civilian had been killed and another wounded when guards opened fire in a crowded street in Baghdad's Bab al-Sharji neighbourhood.

The guards were in a convoy and they fired at the crowd, the officials said.

On Friday, an AFP correspondent toured three hospitals nearby but saw no reports of any wounded civilian being admitted.

Local residents and traffic policemen in Bab...