Photo: Police say contractors killed two women in this car.

[DeepModem Mom]

(Ali Yussef / AFP / Getty Images)

LAT: ...police in Baghdad said at least two women were killed in a shooting involving a private security company.

Details of the shooting were sketchy, but police said it occurred in eastern Baghdad's Karada district about 3 p.m. Initial information put the death toll at two, but a police official later said three women had died. The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity, said the women were traveling in a 1990 white Oldsmobile when they were fired on.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, Marembe Nantongo, said the incident was "not connected" to the embassy or its security detail, which is provided by the private firm Blackwater USA. Reuters news service quoted Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh as saying an investigation was underway into which security company was involved.

The shooting comes on the heels of a Sept. 16 incident involving Blackwater, whose guards are accused of killing 17 Iraqis at a Baghdad intersection. Spokesmen for the firm say the shootings were in self-defense, but witnesses and the Iraqi government say they were unprovoked.

The incident has heightened Iraqi anger toward foreign security companies, whom many accuse of ramming vehicles and firing on civilians with impunity....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq10oct10,0,3250646.story?coll=la-home-center

[TomInTib]

1. So THAT'S who was buying those ugly-assed Oldsmobiles!

What a screwed up situation.

And it just keeps getting worse.