Iraq asks US to release six detainees

Iraq has asked US authorities to release six of the eight Iraqi women in military custody, but not as part of a bid to free a kidnapped American female journalist, a government official said today.

Militants holding 28-year-old Jill Carroll have demanded US authorities release all Iraqi female detainees or else they would kill the freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, who was kidnapped on January 7 in Baghdad.