The US has suspended all road journeys by its diplomats in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

This follows an incident in which at least eight Iraqis died when security guards from the US firm Blackwater opened fire in a busy Baghdad square.

Blackwater has a contract to guard all US State Department employees in Iraq.

The company has had all its operations in the country suspended by the Iraqi government. Blackwater has said its guards acted only in self-defence.

The Iraqi interior ministry has claimed the men fired randomly at civilians in a crowded square in the capital in Sunday's incident, killing innocent bystanders and a policeman.

In a statement sent to US citizens in Iraq on Wednesday, the US embassy said it had suspended all road journeys by its diplomats throughout the country in order to conduct a safety review.

"This suspension is in effect in order to assess mission security and procedures, as well as a possible increased threat to personnel traveling with security details outside the International Zone [Green Zone]," it said.

The BBC's Hugh Sykes in Baghdad says it will now be very difficult for US diplomats to conduct their normal business, not least because the Iraqi foreign ministry is based outside the Green Zone.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Green Zone is the administrative centre of Baghdad

BBC