Baghdad - The Iraqi government has decided not to renew the operational licence for Blackwater, a private US security firm involved in a 2007 firefight that left at least 14 Iraqi civilians dead, local media reported Thursday.

"The licence is finished. By order of the interior minister, it will not be renewed," interior ministry spokesman Abdel Karim Khalaf said in remarks broadcast on Arabic satellite news channels Thursday.

The US Embassy in Baghdad "must find a new security company," Khalaf said. Blackwater is one of several private security firms providing security to the US embassy.

Five private military contractors formerly employed by the North Carolina-based security firm are standing trial in a US court for killing 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others while escorting a US military convoy through Baghdad on September 16, 2007. A sixth guard struck a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Witnesses told journalists and lawyers that the Blackwater contractors attacked civilians unprovoked.

The former Blackwater guards have pled not guilty to voluntary manslaughter, saying they acted in self-defence. In remarks prepared for testimony before an October 2007 congressional hearing into the incident, Blackwater chairman Erik Prince said the men "returned fire at threatening targets," including "men with AK-47s firing on the convoy."

Part of an agreement on the status of US forces in Iraq ratified by the Iraqi parliament last November withdrew legal immunity from US private military contractors in some cases.

A 2004 order from the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority held that contractors were immune from Iraqi law for actions performed as part of their government contracts.

Approximately 48,000 private military contractors from the United States are in Iraq. According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry's decision, Blackwater employees may stay in Iraq provided they change employers. (dpa)