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Infantry soldiers from 1RAR based at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville, walk the streets of Baghdad on patrol.
AN Australian security contractor has been killed at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad.
It is understood the man was shot in the head by a fellow contractor after the pair, both former Australian soldiers, had been drinking in the contractors’ accommodation building Carl Hall early on Thursday morning Iraqi time.
The 34-year-old contractor was an employee of Unity Resources Group which is run out of Dubai by former Australian special forces soldier Gordon Conroy and charged with the protection of the embassy.
The Australian Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Picture: Alex EllinghausenSource:Supplied
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirmed the man’s death.
“The Government extends its condolences to the family of the Australian man over this tragic incident. All appropriate assistance is being provided to his family,†Ms Bishop said.
She said the circumstances around the man’s death would be thoroughly investigated and stressed the embassy had a high level of security. She declined to provide further information.
“Because of the need to keep engaged with his family and because there is a very thorough investigation under way into his death, I won’t go into details,†Ms Bishop said. “But I can confirm that his death is not related to the broader security environment in Baghdad.â€
The security situation at the embassy has been mired in controversy with claims by URG employees that the company was cutting corners and was known by contractors as “Use Your Own Gearâ€.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Baghdad. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
As many as 40 of the 67 contractors who had been guarding the embassy before a new contract with the government was agreed to with URG left the embassy earlier this year.
A friend of the man killed said he was a “good manâ€.
“The man killed was a good person and does not deserve for this to be kept covered up,†he said.
The new contract to guard the embassy for the next five years was half of the $101 million contract URG had from 2011 to 2015.
In February, the head of DFAT dismissed claims diplomats at Australia’s embassy in Baghdad were being protected by cut-price security.
Department secretary Peter Varghese told a Senate estimates hearing the media reports were a beat-up, misleading and inaccurate.
They had also created an extra security risk, he said at the time, adding there was no additional risk to the embassy during the transition from a firm whose contract had expired to a new security provider.