BAGHDAD - Insurgents killed at least 10 foreign security specialists working in Iraq in three separate attacks over two days, including six Americans who died when their helicopter was shot down, their companies and the US embassy said Thursday.
The six US citizens were among nine killed when a Bulgarian commercial helicopter was shot down Thursday afternoon north of Baghdad, a US embassy spokesman said.
Iraq insurgents downed the Mi-8 helicopter with a missile, according to the defence ministry in Sofia.
The six worked for Blackwater Security Consulting, the spokesman said, which provides security for the US embassy in Iraq and other clients.
Earlier in the day, one employee from the British-based Aegis defence services company was killed and another wounded when a bomb exploded as their car headed from the capital towards the airport, company spokeswoman Sarah Pearson told AFP from London.
"Aegis defence services can confirm that one member of staff was killed in the line of duty in Baghdad today and another person sustained injuries", she said. She gave no details as to their identities.
One Iraqi civilian, travelling in another car, was also hurt by the blast, according to an interior ministry official.
This followed another ambush along the same road Wednesday when an American, an Australian and a Canadian were killed when vehicles in their convoy came under small arms fire, their employer, the British-based Edinburgh Risk security firm, told AFP.
Hundreds of security specialists, mostly former soldiers, currently work in Irak, helping to protect coalition facilities along with employees of private organisations and foreign news teams.
04/21/2005 16:04 GMT