This week the New York Times reported that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had once hired Blackwater, a private-security contractor, in connection with a plots to assassinate al-Qaeda operatives.

ECONOMIST: Private security contractors

The five initially were told they were being held in connection with the death in May of another contractor, James Kitterman, according to a source close to the five.

CNN: Briton held over death of 2 contractors in Baghdad