Iraq confiscate heavy weapons from foreign security companies
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bolani said on Wednesday that Iraq would confiscate heavy weapons not authorized by the foreign security companies and will leave within days of ex-Blackwater contractors who are still in the country.
The decision comes in the wake of enraged the Iraqi government after a court dropped charges against an American firm Blackwater Worldwide Blackwater accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
It also comes ahead of parliamentary elections to be held on the seventh of March, which is waging Bolani on the top of its list against the list of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
And Bolani said: "We issued a statement to gather all the heavy weapons that was the unauthorized possession of security companies and which is not in conformity with the norms of the Ministry of Interior .. and the time limit will expire in days to come."
Bolani did not say who was speaking to Reuters on the occasion of an election more details.
He stressed that he had ordered the expulsion of all ex-employees of Blackwater, which has become now known as costume Services from Iraq.
And Bolani said: "Blackwater is now the company is prohibited to work in Iraq. Some elements that were working with the police is working with other security companies .. also given them a deadline to leave Iraq, the other end within the next few days."
He did not specify what will happen to former Blackwater employees if they did not leave the ministry or how do you know whether a person had previously worked with the company.
He said that most former staff members have left the country while the company loses its license to operate in Iraq last year.
And Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for the government has said there was no official order to expel the former Blackwater employees.
AFP
