WASHINGTON: A US rights group announced on Thursday it was filing a lawsuit against private security contractor Blackwater on behalf of a survivor and the families of three victims of a deadly Sept 16 shootout in Baghdad.

The suit in a Washington federal court accuses Blackwater of murder and war crimes and seeks unspecified damages, the Center for Constitutional Rights said.

Filed by Talib Mutlaq Deewan and the estates of three men killed – Himoud Saed Atban, Usama Fadhil Abbass, and Oday Ismail Ibraheem – the suit claims Blackwater “created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company’s financial interests at the expense of innocent human life,” the center said in a statement.

“This senseless slaughter was only the latest incident in a lengthy pattern of egregious misconduct by Blackwater in Iraq,” said lawyer Susan Burke.

“At the moment of this incident, the Blackwater personnel responsible for the shooting were not protecting State Department officials. We allege that Blackwater personnel were not provoked, and that they had no legitimate reason to fire on civilians,” said added.

An Iraqi government report released on Sunday said 17 people died in the unprovoked shooting and 22 were wounded when Blackwater guards opened fire on civilians on Sept 16 in Baghdad in Nisoor Square.

Blackwater, one of the biggest security firms working in Iraq with around 1,000 staff, protects US government personnel in the country. It maintains its men were responding to an ambush while escorting a US State Department convoy.—AFP