Police have arrested two men, believed to be from Lithuania, in connection with the discovery of the two bodies dumped on a Warrenpoint golf course.

The men were arrested this morning and are being questioned at Newry police station.

One of the victims has now been identified locally as a Lithuanian living in the area and police have now sealed off a house in Sandy Street, Newry. Investigators expect to identify the second victim shortly. The men were said to be in their 20s and 30s.

The two victims were found in a field at Warrenpoint Golf Club on Wednesday, though detectives believe that they were killed elsewhere and dumped on the Mound Road site. Chief Inspector Gary Hagan, head of investigations for the Newry area said: "There was a lack of blood in the immediate area so it's possible that they were killed elsewhere and transported here."

Both men had been severely beaten, were stabbed several times and had their throats cut. Police had been uncertain of the identities of the two men due to the extent of their injuries.

The bodies were removed by forensic officers yesterday and it is hoped that more will be known after a series of fingerprint and DNA tests are carried out.

Investigators had drawn a blank until now and had received assistance from Interpol and the Garda Síochána.

A paramilitary motive seems increasingly unlikely, despite a report that a man purporting to be from a loyalist paramilitary group claimed the murders shortly after the bodies were discovered.

Chief Inspector Gary Hagan appealed for assistance from members of the public who may have stumbled onto the murder scene.

"I would ask members of the public who have perhaps come upon an area where there is perhaps blood or where they feel that some sort of violent struggle took place to contact the police," he said.

(GMcG)