U.S. forces free 6 detainees from Kirkuk

KIKurdistan RegionUK / IraqiNews.com: U.S. forces on Friday freed six detainees from Camp Bucca and handed them over to Kirkuk’s provincial council, according to a council member. “U.S. forces Friday (Mar. 20) released six detainees from Kirkuk province within the second batch of prisoners in Bucca detention center and handed them over to members of the Arab bloc of the Kirkuk’s provincial council after they were proved not guilty of involvement in any crime,” Mohamed Khaliel al-Juburi told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The initiative is part of national reconciliation efforts,” he explained, adding that more detainees will be released over the coming days. Thousands of Iraqis are held by U.S. forces at the Basra-based Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. Kirkuk, an oil-rich and mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen, Christians and Arabs, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. SH (P) 1