Blackwater: new charges

PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3

Four ex-Blackwater Worldwide security guards are facing new charges in the U.S. over the alleged shooting of unarmed civilians in Baghdad in 2007.

Nicholas Slatten, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough and Dustin Heard face 33 new counts.

The case against a fifth man, Donald Ball, was dropped last month.

A new indictment returned by a grand jury in Washington includes charges of manslaughter over the deaths of 14 civilians in Nisur Square.

At least 18 more were wounded.

Prosecutors say the men used a sniper rifle, machine guns and grenades in the alleged attack.

The case strained U.S.-Iraqi ties and raised questions about the use of private contractors shielded from prosecution in Iraq.

The original charges, similar to the new ones, and which all had denied, were thrown out in 2009.

A judge ruled prosecutors should have done more to exclude statements from the guards given under threa