Blackwater force in 56 shootings

Blackwater, a large, privately owned security contractor based in North Carolina, has provided security to diplomats on 1873 convoy runs in Iraq so far this year, and its personnel fired weapons 56 times, according to a statement by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

The State Department did not release comparable 2007 numbers for other security companies.

But the Blackwater numbers show a far higher rate of shootings per convoy mission than experienced last year by one of the company's main competitors, DynCorp International. DynCorp reported 10 cases in about 1500 convoy runs.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Blackwater's rate of shootings was at least twice as high as the rates for other companies providing similar services to the State Department in Iraq.