BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A British security contractor has been arrested after another Briton and an Australian were shot dead early on Sunday, Iraq's Interior Ministry said, adding that an Iraqi translator was also wounded.
The British embassy said it believed two Britons had been arrested in the incident.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf said the group had been drinking early on Sunday when an argument broke out and one of the group, a Briton, opened fire on the others.
"He tried to run away but he was then arrested. He's now in Iraqi police custody and he will be tried under Iraqi law, which could result in execution," Khalaf said.
The dead Briton and the Australian worked for the ArmorGroup security firm, part of London-listed security services group G4S.
The firm named the dead Briton as Paul McGuigan and the Australian as Darren Hoare.
"I can confirm the deaths of two ArmorGroup Iraq employees in the early hours of this morning in a firearms incident in the International Zone in Baghdad," a company spokesman who declined to be named said, referring to the heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic complex in Baghdad.
The British embassy confirmed the two deaths and said a consular team was providing assistance. An embassy spokesman said he believed two Britons had been arrested.
Since the start of this year, the legions of security contractors who have poured into Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have been subject to Iraqi law after a U.N. mandate covering their presence expired.
Heavily armed and highly paid Western security contractors are a common sight in Iraq. Many provide security for the U.S. military in Iraq, others for private firms.
(Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Michael Christie, additional reporting by London bureau, writing by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Charles Dick)
