Blackwater accused of murder in lawsuit

October 12, 2007

Philadelphia - Blackwater USA has been accused of murder by a Philadelphia law firm representing the families of three Iraqis who were killed in Iraq during a shootout that killed 17 innocent people.

Blackwater USA has been accused of murder by a Philadelphia law firm representing the families of three Iraqis who were killed in Iraq during a shootout that killed 17 innocent people.

The suit calls the incident a "senseless slaying" and claims it was part of "Blackwater's lengthy pattern of egregious misconduct in Iraq."

The suit, filed on behalf of the estates of Himoud Saed Atban, Usama Fadhil Abbass and Oday Ismail Ibraheem, who were killed, and Talib Mutlaq Deewan, who the suit says was "seriously injured," seeks compensatory damages as well as punitive damages "in an amount sufficient to strip defendants of all of the revenue and profits earned from their pattern of constant misconduct and callous disregard for human life," to be determined by a jury.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says that on Sept. 16, "heavily armed Blackwater mercenaries working in Iraq began firing on a crowd of innocent civilians without justification, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries." Seventeen people were killed and 24 wounded.