The State Department has launched an investigation into another Blackwater shooting of an innocent in Baghdad – but this time the victim was the pet pooch of the New York Times bureau.

The paper’s representatives in the Iraqi capital said yesterday that security guards from the embattled private firm killed their beloved dog, named Hentish, last week.

The State Department would not say yesterday whether the Times – which has strongly denounced Blackwater and opposed the war in Iraq on its editorial pages – had requested the probe.

Blackwater, already under investigation for killing 17 Iraqis in a Baghdad gunfight in September, insisted that Hentish started it – by attacking one of the firm’s own bomb-sniffing security dogs.

“The dog attacked our canine and attempts to calm the other dog were unsuccessful,” said Anny Tyrell, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina-based company.

The Times said the incident occurred before a US diplomat was to visit the newspaper’s Baghdad compound.

Blackwater, which protects senior US diplomatic and other civilian officers in Iraq, said it sent a security team to sweep the area for explosives.

But Hentish fought one of the bomb-sniffing dogs and couldn’t be contained by a Blackwater official, the firm said.

“The K-9 handler made several unsuccessful attempts to get the dog to retreat, including placing himself between the dogs,” Tyrell said.

“When those efforts failed, the K-9 handler unfortunately was forced to use a pistol to protect the company’s K-9 and himself,” she said.

The State Department would not say yesterday how it became involved. A spokeswoman said only it was “looking into” the reports.

But officials from the US embassy began an investigation. Embassy officials made two visits to the Times compound, correspondent Alissa Rubin told Reuters.

Efforts to reach the Times in Baghdad were unsuccessful and a spokesman in New York did not return a call seeking comment.

The Times under its publisher, Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr., has blasted Blackwater in the aftermath of the September shootings.