Baghdad: Forty-three people, mainly Asians, including an Indian, rounded up after a shooting by private security guards in Baghdad in which a girl was wounded are still in Iraqi custody, a US military official said today.

"My understanding is that they are still in custody but some of them could be released soon," military spokesman Major Winfield Danielson told AFP.

The group was detained on Monday by Iraqi troops after guards from Dubai-based private security company Almco Group shot randomly in Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood when the streets were crowded with shoppers.

Iraqi troops arrived on the scene and stopped the guards from escaping, and crowds threw stones at them once they had been rounded up, witnesses said.

Iraqi officials announced that an investigation had been launched to determine who had opened fire and warned that culprits would be brought to trial under Iraqi law.

Those detaineed comprise 10 Iraqis, 21 Sri Lankans, nine Nepalese, one Indian and two Fijians holding US passports.

The Almco Group was contracted to the US military in Iraq but it is unclear whether it was supporting the contract at the time of the incident.

Thousands of Asian workers are employed in the service industry connected to the vast US military operation in Iraq. It is believed those detained were being escorted by Iraqi security guards at the time of the incident.

Almco, which has contracts to provide food and water to military transition teams, has not commented.

Source : PTI