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Washington: US military reports reveal that Blackwater guards shot civilians without provocation during a shooting incident in Baghdad, a newspaper reported on Friday.
At least 11 Iraqis were killed in the September 16 incident, which has outraged Iraqis and prompted local leaders to call for the pullout or suspension of the security firm's services.
Citing a senior US military official, The Washington Post said the military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault.
"It was obviously excessive. It was obviously wrong," said a US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them," the official was quoted as saying.
The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, the official told the Post.
The Pentagon and a joint US-Iraqi team are investigating the incident, which occurred as Blackwater escorted a diplomatic convoy in western Baghdad.
North Carolina-based Blackwater has said its guards only reacted to an attack on the convoy they were protecting.
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