17 detainees freed by U.S. forces

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Seventeen out of a total 19 detainees from Kirkuk residents have been released from U.S.-run prisons, a member of Kirkuk’s provincial council said on Thursday. “They were released today after all charges against them have been dropped,” Ramla Hameed al-Obeidi, who belongs to the Arab List, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The two other detainees are being held by the U.S. forces,” Obeidi explained, arguing that several charges are still pending against them. Kirkuk, an oil-rich and mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen, Christians, and Arabs; lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. SS (P)/SR 1