Blackwater guards expelled from Iraq

Iraq's interior minister has ordered hundreds of private security guards to leave the country within seven days, or face possible arrest on visa violations. The guards are linked to American private security firm Blackwater Worldwide.

Jawad Al-bolani, Iraqi Interior Minister, said, "We have been following up on personnel from the Blackwater security firm and some of them were working with other security firms. They were told to leave Iraq and prohibited from working with such companies. The total number of guards is fewer than 250."

Neither the guards, nor the company, can appeal the decision. The order comes in the wake of a US judge's dismissal of a case against five Blackwater guards charged with killing Iraqis in Baghdad in 2007. Blackwater security contractors were protecting US diplomats when the guards opened fire at a busy intersection. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children.

File photo shows a sign marking the entrance to Blackwater's  training facility in Mount Carroll, Illinois. The Iraqi interior  minister said he had ordered 250 ex-employees of American security  firm Blackwater, whose guards were charged with killing unarmed  civilians in Baghdad, to leave the country.  (AFP/Getty Images/File/Scott Olson)