Private U.S. security contractors accused of shooting dead 17 innocent Iraqis may have been offered partial immunity by the U.S. state department, say reports.

Unnamed officials said the offer was unauthorized and could make it much more difficult to prosecute the guards employed by the Blackwater firm.
If confirmed, the revelation may put further strain on US-Iraq relations.
The Iraqi government was furious at the 16 September deaths, and demanded the guards be handed over to face trial.
Blackwater says its staff acted in self-defense.
The Associated Press news agency quotes three unnamed senior law enforcement officials as saying that all the guards involved in the case were given the legal protections as investigators from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security looked into what had happened.
Impunity under scrutiny The guards were offered ""limited-use immunity deals"", reported the New York Times, which protects them against prosecution for anything they might say in interviews with authorities as long as their statements are true.
The FBI took over the investigation earlier this month, after the justice department realized it would not be able to bring charges based on the guards' statements to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, reported AP. But some of the Blackwater employees have now reportedly refused to answer further questions from FBI investigators.
Unnamed officials speaking to the New York Times questioned whether Bureau of Diplomatic Security officials had the authority to offer such deals - making the legal validity of the offers unclear.
Nonetheless, if the reports do turn out to be true, they could further complicate the issue of how the guards could be tried. The contractors are currently granted immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law by Order 17 of the Coalition Provisional Authority - the now-defunct interim body set up by the U.S.-led coalition in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein.
(Souurce: AP)