Australian contractor: Our employees feared suicide bombing

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An Australian security company that Tuesday fired on a car carrying two Iraqi women, killing them, said its team acted because they feared a suicide bombing attack.

In a statement released Wednesday, Unity Resource Group contractors said the car carrying the women failed to stop when it approached the contractors' vehicle.

The company said its contractors gave the car's occupants signals to stop, but it continued to move toward them.

"A stationary Unity Resources Group security team of four vehicles in Karrada, Baghdad, was approached at speed by a white car," at about 1:40 p.m. Tuesday (6:40 a.m. ET), the statement said.

"The area of Karrada had been subject to vehicle suicide bomber attacks in recent weeks.

"The security team used graduated and escalated responses which included non-lethal means such as signage, strobe lights, hand signals and a signal flare fired in front of the vehicle to get it to stop. The vehicle did not heed these warnings. ... Fearing a suicide attack, only then did the team use their weapons in a final attempt to stop the vehicle." See map locating the incident »

The car carrying the women, ages 30 and 32, was struck by 19 bullets, Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said Tuesday.

He said United Resources Group has apologized to the ministry and said it will compensate the women's families, and would take action against its employees if an investigation determined it was warranted.

"Unity has since confirmed that two people have lost their lives in this tragic incident," said URG's Wednesday statement. "We deeply regret the loss of these lives."

Michael Priddin, the company's chief operating officer, said in the statement that company officials had been meeting with Iraqi authorities throughout the day and are cooperating with their investigations.

A U.S. State Department official said URG has been providing security for a nongovernmental organization called Research Triangle Institute International, which is a USAID-based subcontractor doing reconstruction work in Iraq.

The incident came during a period of scrutiny of the activities of private security contractors such as Blackwater USA, which guards U.S. diplomats.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said Tuesday the URG incident is another example of excessive force being used against innocent Iraqis.

The Iraqi government has vowed to clamp down on private security firms in the aftermath of a Blackwater shooting September 16 in Baghdad's Nusoor Square that Iraqi officials have said killed 17 Iraqi civilians.

An Iraqi investigation into the Blackwater incident called the shootings "premeditated murder," and the Iraqi government plans to recommend Blackwater pay $8 million to families of each of the people killed.

Blackwater has said its contractors "acted lawfully and appropriately" in the incident.

Under a provision put into place in the early days of the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq, security contractors were given immunity from Iraqi law. E-mail to a friend

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