Contractors detained after Marines fired on

BAGHDAD -- American and Iraqi security guards for a North Carolina-based company were detained for three days in a military jail by US Marines after shots were fired at US forces and civilians last month, officials said yesterday, and some of the contractors complained they were abused while in custody.

The 16 Americans and three Iraqis, all employed by Zapata Engineering of Charlotte, N.C., are believed to have been the first private security personnel detained in Iraq since the war began two years ago. No charges have been filed, and the American contractors are believed to have left Iraq, the military said.

It was not immediately clear why the shots were fired in Fallujah, once regarded as a focal point of Iraq's rampant insurgency before a US-led offensive dispersed many militants in November. No casualties were reported from the shooting.

The Marines said the security contractors were detained after firing on Iraqi civilian cars and US forces in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

''Nineteen employees working for a contract security firm in Iraq were temporarily detained and questioned after firing on US Marine positions in the city of Fallujah on Saturday," according to Marine spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan.

A Marines combat team reported receiving small-arms fire from gunmen in several trucks and sport utility vehicles, Lapan said.

''Marines also witnessed passengers in the vehicles firing at and near civilian cars on the street," Lapan said.

''Three hours later, another Marine observation post was fired on by gunmen from vehicles matching the description of those involved in the earlier attack," Lapan said. ''Marines saw passengers in the vehicles firing out the windows."

Spike strips on the road at a nearby observation post stopped the vehicles, and Marines detained the contractors at a military detention facility at Camp Fallujah, just outside the city, before releasing them three days later.

Company president Manuel Zapata denied the allegations, saying the only shot fired by his workers was a warning blast after they noticed a vehicle following them.

A lawyer who said he represented the contractors accused the military of mistreating the contractors, some of whom have said they were physically abused and humiliated while in custody.

''Marines put their knees on the backs of their necks and ripped off religious medallions," Mark Schopper, a lawyer purportedly representing two of the detained workers, told the Charlotte Observer.

''They asked for attorneys, they asked for Amnesty International, they asked for the American Red Cross," he said. ''All three requests were denied."

The Marines denied the allegations of abuse.

''The Americans were segregated from the rest of the detainee population, and like all security detainees, were treated humanely and respectfully," Lapan said.

He said the inquiry conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service will look into the employees' claims as well as the shots.