Some clutching the Koran and kissing the ground, the first batch of a planned mass release of 2,500 prisoners walked free in Iraq yesterday as part of efforts to heal sectarian wounds and defuse an insurgency.

State television, citing the Justice Ministry, said a total of 594 detainees were let out across the country, a day after new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the move to help foster “national reconciliation”.

It was one of the biggest such releases of prisoners held in Iraqi or American detention since US-led forces invaded the country three years ago to topple Saddam Hussein.

Many of those in prison – estimated at more than 28,000 – are believed to be held on suspicion of involvement in a Sunni Arab rebellion against the US-backed, Shi’ite-led government.

The move by Maliki also appeared to be an attempt to shore up his own authority at a time when rivalries within his ruling Shi’ite Alliance have cast doubt over his effectiveness.

Looking exhausted, some of about 100 let free in Baghdad told of how they had spent months in jail on suspicion of “terrorism” but without being formally charged.

“I was detained for almost seven months because the US military accused me of launching rockets at their forces,” said Sunni Arab tribal leader Ra’ad Talal Hikmat from the western desert province of Anbar, a rebel stronghold. “We suffered from bad food and illness,” he added.

Three buses brought the prisoners to Baghdad’s main bus station under heavy US and Iraqi security.

As they stepped out, some wept while others smiled and waved at waiting families.

“I spent 16 months in jail without any specific reason. They only questioned me once, accusing me of funding terrorism,” said Youssef Khidr, 38, adding he had been arrested by Iraqi forces and then handed over to the US-run Abu Ghraib prison.

Maliki, under intense pressure to end violence, said in a televised statement that the prisoner release would free those who had no clear evidence against them or had been detained mistakenly. But “Saddam loyalists” or “terrorists” would not be freed.

Initially, 500 people would have been let out yesterday, he said, but did not give details. It was not immediately clear how many of them were in Iraqi or US custody.

Maliki had cited the release of those imprisoned without just cause as one of his priorities when his cabinet took office in May. Such detentions, by Iraqi and US security forces, have been a major source of popular discontent.

<B>Violence rages on across the country</B>

A UN report last month said there were 28,700 detainees in Iraq, including 5,000 held by the Interior Ministry even though it should only detain people for short periods of time.

Maliki’s prisoner release came at a time when his fractious, Shi’ite political Alliance is blocking his efforts to name new interior and defence ministers, who he hoped would lead his charge against insurgents and sectarian violence.

The two key security jobs were left vacant when the self-styled government of national unity took office on May 20 because of a failure to agree on names.

Maliki said this week he would present his candidates to the next session of parliament. The assembly’s deputy speaker said it would be held today.

Violence has continued to rage across Iraq since his grand coalition of majority Shi’ites and minority Sunnis and Kurds took office less than three weeks ago.

In Baghdad, thirteen out of some 50 Iraqi transport workers who were abducted earlier this week were found alive but some showed signs of torture, police sources said.

In another part of the capital, gunmen in a car shot dead four policemen and wounded another, police sources said.

The United States has said it would not withdraw its 133,000 troops until Iraqi security forces can handle security on their own. But Washington’s coalition partner Italy has other plans.

Visiting Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said he believed his country’s troops would return home from Iraq by the end of this year. Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who took office last month, has vowed to live up to campaign promises for a swift pull-out of Italy’s military presence of around 2,600 troops. He has called the Iraq war a “grave error”.

“We think that by the end of this year the Italian military mission will end in Iraq,” D’Alema said during a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari, speaking through an Arabic translator.

<B>Omar AL-IBADI

Fredrik DAHL</B>