The killings by the largest US security contractor in Iraq sparked international condemnation, launched congressional hearings and inspired anti-American insurgent propaganda.
The five security guards, all decorated military veterans, surrendered in federal court in Utah, where one of them lives. The five guards walked without speaking through a phalanx of reporters. A judge ordered the guards to report to a Washington courthouse Jan. 6. They are expected to plead not guilty.
A sixth Blackwater guard struck a deal to cooperate with prosecutors. He has pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi and wounding another.
"None of the victims of this shooting was armed; none of them was an insurgent," US Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said at a Justice Department press conference in Washington to announce the charges.
Twenty people were wounded in crowded Nisoor Square, including one injured by a grenade launched into a nearby girls' school. Another 18 Iraqis were assaulted but not wounded, prosecutors said.
Blackwater, not charged in the case, maintains its guards were protecting themselves from what they believed was an imminent car bomb attack.
