US Contractor Killed By US Forces Near Entrance To Air Base
February 10, 2007: 02:55 PM EST


BAGHDAD (AP)--The U.S. military confirmed on Saturday that American forces at Camp Anaconda, the huge air base north of Baghdad, shot and killed a civilian contract truck driver.

A spokeswoman for KBR, a contracting subsidiary of Halliburton Co. (HAL) that was formerly known as Kellog, Brown & Root, said the incident was under investigation.

Spokeswoman Melissa Norcross said the company was not releasing the name of the dead driver or a second person in the truck who was wounded "to protect the individuals' privacy."

In Baghdad, Lt. Cmdr. Bill speaks said, "There was an escalation of force incident at Camp Anaconda on Feb. 5 (Monday) that resulted in the death of a civilian contractor. The incident is under investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and KBR."

An escalation of force incident normally means a driver approaching a checkpoint didn't respond to military orders to approach slowly and stop.

"Sadly, 98 KBR employees and subcontractors have lost their lives, and more than 430 have been wounded by hostile action while performing services under the company's government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait," Norcross said in an email response to queries about the incident, which was first reported on the Web site of a Flint, Michigan, television station.