5 Blackwater guards indicted

Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards have been indicted and a sixth was negotiating a plea bargain for a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead and became an anti-American rallying cry for insurgents, people with knowledge of the case said.

Prosecutors obtained the indictment late Thursday and had it put under seal until it is made public, perhaps as early as Monday, when the five are to surrender. All who discussed the case did so on condition of anonymity because the matters remain sealed. The exact charges were unclear.

Six guards have been under investigation since a convoy of heavily armed Blackwater contractors opened fire in a crowded intersection on Sept. 16, 2007. Witnesses say the shooting was unprovoked, but Blackwater, hired by the State Department to guard U.S. diplomats, says its guards were ambushed by insurgents.