Iraq: US military confirms imminent release of detainees

The US military today said it would release five female Iraqi detainees, a move demanded by the kidnappers of an American reporter to spare her life.

The women will be freed today and tomorrow as part of a group of about 420 Iraqis to be released from military custody after reviews of their cases determined there was no reason to continue holding them.

Armed men who abducted Jill Carroll on January 7 in Baghdad have threatened to kill the freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor unless all Iraqi women prisoners are freed.

The military confirmed it was holding nine Iraqi women. The fate of the remaining four was not immediately clear.

A top Iraqi official and the mother of one of the Iraqi detainees confirmed the imminent releases, saying they were expecting them to occur.

Busho Ibrahim Ali, deputy justice minister, said five female detainees were expected to be released from the Camp Cropper detention centre on a US base near Baghdad International Airport.