Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi civilian was severely injured when guards working for a foreign security firm opened fire in a busy street in central Baghdad on Sunday, a well-informed police source said.

    The incident took place in the morning when a SUVs convoy of a foreign security firm were passing through a street near the Zawraa Park just outside the Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies, the source told Xinhuaon condition of anonymity.

    The civilian was wounded when the bodyguards in the vehicles opened fire to clear a way for their convoy through the jam, the source said.

    Iraqi civilians have been attacked several times by guards working for private security firms that provide security to U.S. and Iraqi officials and politicians.

    Last September, 17 Iraqis were killed and many others wounded when guards affiliated to well-known U.S. Blackwater security firm opened fire randomly on civilians at Nisour Square in western Baghdad.

    The incident led to the withdrawal of an immunity for all foreign contractors, including security companies, by Iraqi government.

    Foreign contractors had been under the umbrella of the immunity since it was passed by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004.