Iraq: No comment on SA dead
2005-11-17 08:44
Johannesburg - The US company that hired two South Africans who were killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq on Monday has refused to comment on the incident.
Sapa contacted the company, DynCorp International, several times on Wednesday for more information. However, attempts proved futile when Tiffany Wall at the Texas office referred Sapa to Greg Legana in Virginia. Legana, who asked Sapa to call him back, was unavailable when his office was contacted again.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday that two South Africans were killed and two had been injured in the suicide bombing.
All four men were employed at DynCorp International.
The two dead men have been identified as Naas du Preez, 36, from Randfontein, and Johannes Potgieter, 53, from KwaZulu-Natal.
Blast near main entrance to Green Zone
French news agency AFP reported the two contractors were killed when a suicide bomber blew up a booby-trapped car outside the Green Zone, a high-security area in Baghdad.
The blast occurred near a main entrance to the Green Zone, home to the US and British embassies and to Iraqi government offices.
DynCorp is a US-based "multi-faceted professional services and project management company", according to its website.
It has provided military and civilian support to governments for nearly 60 years.
Since 1994, the company says, it has recruited, trained and deployed more than 5 000 civilian peacekeepers and police trainers to 11 countries - including Haiti, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq - for the US Department of State.
Services included the protection of American diplomats and diplomatic facilities, and key allied leaders in high-threat countries.
- SAPA