Blackwater’s successor pays Iraqi families

RALEIGH, N.C. – The new owners of the security company formerly known as Blackwater said Saturday they have settled a lawsuit brought by some of the survivors and estates of Iraqis killed during an infamous 2007 shooting in Baghdad.

The settlement closes the last lawsuit against the company, now called Academi, over the shooting that killed 17 Iraqis in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, spokesman John Procter said.

Security personnel of North Carolina-based Blackwater were guarding U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in the crowded square on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq.

The confidential settlement of the lawsuit against the former Blackwater “enables its new management to move the company forward,” Academi said in a statement, “and, with respect to the Iraqi families and individuals who were plaintiffs in this lawsuit, provides them with compensation so they can now bring some closure to the losses they suffered.”

A Raleigh attorney representing the families, Jim Roberts, confirmed the settlement, which was first reported Saturday by the Charlotte Observer.