U.S. forces put off release of Kirkuk detainees

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: U.S. forces have postponed the release of several detainees from Kirkuk residents until after the upcoming parliamentary election despite a lack of evidence against them, a member of Kirkuk’s provincial council said on Saturday. “The U.S. forces have informed the council that they will postpone the release of 14 detainees from their jails until March 14, 2010,” Ramla Hameed al-Obeidi, who belongs to the council’s Arab List, told IraqiNews.com news agency. The delay has been attributed to the forces’ occupation with security plans to protect voting centers all over the country, according to Obeidi. 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