Blinkx Video: AFGHANISTAN: Thirty-six suspected militants were released from U.S military detention in Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN: Thirty-six suspected militants were released from U.S military detention in Afghanistan
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AFGHANISTAN: Thirty-six suspected militants were released from U.S military detention in Afghanistan

Thirty-six suspected militants were released from U.S military detention in Afghanistan on Monday (September 18). The group is one of the largest the U.S military has released from Baghram Airbase north of the capital, Kabul. The prisoners were handed over to a government reconciliation body that will return them to their homes. The reconciliation programme is aimed at bringing fighters from the former Taliban regime back to society. "I'm happy to be released, I support peace in the future, and I demand that all Afghans help the government in ensuring peace and stability in our country." said Abdul Qayoom a released prisoner from Helmand province. "We had a lot of problems in prison but we had to put up with it. We didn't have blankets and things like that. I can say life was terrible in prison," said Wazir Ahmad who spent 16 month in U.S detention. According to Afghan officials, the prisoners released on Monday pleaded not guilty, posed no threat to security and swore to be loyal to the government. Meanwhile on Monday a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed four NATO soldiers handing out notebooks and pens to children in southern Afghanistan, a day after NATO declared the area free of Taliban insurgents. The Taliban, who have unleashed a wave of attacks on government and foreign troops this year, claimed responsibility for the blast in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. NATO did not identify the nationality of the dead. An Afghan police officer said they were Canadian and many children had also been wounded. The casualties are likely to increase apprehension about the alliance's biggest ground offensive as NATO commanders press member states for 2,500 extra troops. The violence, the most intense since the Taliban were ousted five years ago, has raised concern about the prospects for a country that had been seen as a success in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said by telephone the bomb was set off by a young Taliban suicide bomber from Kandahar. He said 16 NATO soldiers had been killed.

ITN Source | September 18, 2006