Iraq ministry finishes draft law on contractors

By Mussab al-Khairalla and Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Interior Ministry has finished draft legislation that would end the legal immunity enjoyed by private security contractors after a deadly shooting involving U.S. firm Blackwater, an official said on Tuesday.

In fresh violence, a suicide car bomb killed three people near a police station in the southern Shi'ite city of Basra. Car bombings are rare in Basra, the hub for Iraq's oil industry.

Two car bombs also killed six people and wounded 20 in the Zayouna district of eastern Baghdad, police and a hospital official said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf told a news conference the draft law had been submitted to the State Shura Council, a body which vets legal language in drafts before they can be passed to parliament for debate.

Iraq has said it would review the status of all security firms after what it called a flagrant assault by Blackwater contractors. Eleven people were killed while the firm was escorting a U.S. embassy convoy through Baghdad on September 16.

"This legislation will cover everything to do with these companies. The companies will come under the grip of Iraqi law, will be monitored by the Interior Ministry and will work under its guidelines," Khalaf said.

"They will be strictly punished for any (violations) on the street."

The shooting has incensed Iraqis who regard the tens of thousands of security contractors working in the country as private armies that act with impunity.