Baghdad Mercenaries Accused of War Crimes

(CN) - Private mercenaries working on contract for the Pentagon in Baghdad shot to death two women on their way home from church, riddling their car with 40 bullets, then "sped off like gangsters," the father of one of the victims says. He sued the Unity Resources Group, of Dubai, and the Research Triangle Institute, of North Carolina, in District of Columbia Federal Court.

Jalal Askander Antranick said the Oct. 9, 2007 daylight attack in which his daughter Genevia and the driver died, and two others were injured, was part of an "ongoing campaign of terror" against inhabitants of Baghdad.

The "defendants have created and fostered a culture of lawlessness among their employees and agents, encouraging them to act in [the company's] financial interests at the expense of innocent human life," according to the complaint.

Antranick says his daughter, Genevia Jalal Antranick, was a passenger in a 1990 Oldsmobile traveling though the Karada neighborhood when she and the driver, Marani Awanis Manook, were shot in the head and neck by Unity Resources Group mercenaries.

Two people in the back seat were injured by bullets and shards of glass, but survived. None of the occupants were carrying weapons, nor had they threatened the convoy of four armored vehicles in which the United Resources Group was riding.

The mercenaries were returning to their base of operations after dropping off an employee of the Research Triangle Institute.

As the car carrying Antranick passed through an intersection, a United Resources Group employee fired his automatic weapon from a gun portal in an armored vehicle. Another employee leaned out a door and did the same.

The shots were fired 75 to 100 yards. A video camera mounted on the armored vehicle showed that no warnings were given before the attack.

An Iraqi police officer at the scene stated the armored convoy then sped off "like gangsters," failing to provide medical assistance to their victims.

Antranick seeks punitive damages for war crimes, violations of the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, wrongful death, negligent hiring and supervision, negligence in failing to rescue, assault and battery, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Antranick is represented by Paul Wolf.

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