Iraqi report alleges shooting was crime

Iraqi report alleges
shooting was crime

BAGHDAD, Iraq — An official Iraqi investigation into a deadly shooting involving Blackwater USA security guards concluded 17 Iraqis were killed and found the gunfire was unwarranted, the government said Sunday. It also said the shootings amounted to a deliberate crime and recommended those involved face trial. The Blackwater guards are accused of opening fire on Iraqi civilians in a main square in Baghdad on Sept. 16. They claimed they came under fire first. The Iraqi investigative committee, which was ordered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, found that convoys from the Moyock, N.C.-based security company did not come under direct or indirect fire before the men shot up the intersection. “It was not hit even by a stone,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

Leaders: Weapons found

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s military leaders said weapons had been seized from Buddhist monasteries and announced dozens of new arrests Sunday, defying global outrage over its violent repression of protesters who sought an end to 45 years of dictatorship. Recent raids on monasteries turned up guns, knives and ammunition, though it was not yet clear to whom they belonged, according to The New Light of Myanmar, a mouthpiece of the junta. The government threatened to punish any monks that violate the law, stepping up pressure on clerics who led the protests. The junta says at least 10 people were killed in its Sept. 26-27 crackdown — though independent sources say the toll was likely much higher — and that some 1,000 remain in detention centers. At least 135 monks are being held, according to The New Light of Myanmar.

Firefighters honored

EMMITSBURG, Md. — President Bush on Sunday honored fallen firefighters for their dedication and service to the nation. From the Sept. 11 attacks to Hurricane Katrina, “there were firefighters from around the country there to help,” Bush said at a ceremony where he and others paid tribute to firefighters killed on the job. A plaque with the names of 87 firefighters who died in the line of duty last year was added to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the campus at the National Fire Academy. The names of four others killed in previous years and not honored before also were added.

Clinton leads Iowa poll

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken the lead among Democratic presidential candidates in an Iowa poll, an encouraging sign of progress toward overcoming a big hurdle in the race. Although the New York senator is the clear front-runner in national surveys, Iowa has remained an elusive prize. She has been in a tight race with John Edwards and Barack Obama in the state that begins the primary campaign voting in three months. But her campaign has focused on boosting her appeal in Iowa, including two visits with her husband, former President Clinton, by her side over the summer. The effort appears to have paid off, according to the poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers that was published in Sunday’s Des Moines Register. Clinton was supported by 29 percent of the 399 respondents to the poll conducted Oct. 1-3, compared with 21 percent in May.

No gas leak found

NEW YORK — Investigators have found no evidence that a gas leak caused an explosion that rocked a Manhattan apartment building and injured more than 20 people, a utility company spokesman said Sunday. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta had earlier said a gas leak in a first-floor apartment caused Saturday’s blast in the Harlem neighborhood. But officials checked interior and exterior pipes and found that everything was working properly, said Alfonso Quiroz, spokesman for Consolidated Edison. The fire department was still investigating and had no word Sunday on a specific cause of the explosion, which left four girls in critical condition. The mother of the four girls, ages 1 to 5, was also in critical condition, said John Rogers, a spokesman for Weill Cornell. Investigators found no evidence of an illegal business in the building.

Shooting call likely a hoax

EWING, N.J. — Police investigating a 911 call describing a shooting early Sunday at the College of New Jersey believe the call may have been a hoax. The caller reported a shooting at Travers Hall shortly after 6 a.m., and e-mails were sent to students asking them to remain in their locations while the investigation continued. Later, students were told they could move about the campus, although security checkpoints had been set up. By late morning, a message posted on the university’s Web site said investigators “believe the original report may have been inaccurate.”

Associated