Blackwater Guard Kills NY Times' Dog

Dec. 19, 2007 — -- A dog at The New York Times Baghdad bureau was shot and killed by a Blackwater security guard in an incident last week, according to the security firm.

"The K-9 handler made several unsuccessful attempts to get the dog to retreat, including placing himself between the dogs," Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrell told Reuters. "When those efforts failed, the K-9 handler unfortunately was forced to use a pistol to protect the company's K-9 and himself."

While the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad declined to comment to ABC News, it is reportedly investigating the incident, The New York Times said in a story about the incident on its Web site.

Blackwater, a private security firm that provides protection to U.S. workers in Iraq, is currently under investigation after guards shot and killed 17 people on a street in Baghdad last September. The firm has maintained that the actions of its employees, many of whom are ex-military, were proper.

According to the newspaper, U.S. officials have taken some interest in the dog shooting.

"Investigators from the State Department have made two visits to The New York Times' news bureau in Baghdad," wrote New York Times reporter Maria Newman, who added that an employee from the bureau told her the dog, named Henish, was "born right near the checkpoint and grew up there from the time it was a puppy."

The incident occurred on the day that U.S. Embassy spokesman Phil Reeker was visiting the newspaper's bureau, located about 2 miles from the International Zone inside the Green Zone. It began when the Times dog went after one of the Blackwater dogs, which are used to sniff for bombs.

The New York Times' dog wasn't popular among the journalists in the area, and Iraqis who spoke to ABC News correspondents there said they were a little insulted by the attention the dog has garnered.

A spokeswoman for The New York Times declined to comment directly to ABC News. A Times' employee who asked not to be named said the bureau was "horrified" by the event.