Four killed in Falluja were former US troops

1.00pm

WASHINGTON - The four American employees of a private US security firm who were killed and mutilated in Iraq this week have been identified as highly trained former American military troops.

Blackwater Security Consulting, a firm that provides paramilitary training for private and government needs, confirmed that the four men were employees. Blackwater declined to release their identities, but sources close to the families said three of the men were former US Special Operations troops:

- Jerry Zovko, 32, an Army veteran from Willoughby, Ohio.

- Mike Teague, 38, an Army veteran from Clarksville, Tennessee.

- Scott Helvenston, 38, a veteran of the Navy. His hometown was not known.

Other sources said the fourth man had also previously served in the military, but his identity was not immediately made public.

Blackwater Security Consulting, based in Moyock, North Carolina, recruits security specialists for contract work from elite US and other Special Operations units worldwide. It also trains police and other government employees.

Television pictures broadcast outside the United States showed the incinerated body of one of the four contractors being kicked and stamped on by people in a jubilant crowd in Falluja, while another body was dragged down the road by its feet. Two bodies were also temporarily hung from a bridge.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq