Saturday, September 01, 2007

Iraq To Free 6,000 Sunni Insurgents From Jail

The Telegraph (UK)

Up to 6,000 suspected Sunni insurgents are to be freed from Iraqi jails in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the country's government from collapsing under the strain of sectarian in-fighting.

The release scheme, which could put some hardened combatants back on to the streets, is part of a high-stakes gamble by Iraq's Shia-led government to win back the confidence of Sunni politicians after increasingly bitter squabbling and walkouts.

It is understood to have been central to a key accord last week between the five main Shia, Kurdish and Sunni political blocs to kick-start the government again after 15 months of near deadlock.

The failure of Iraq's politicians to set an example to their warring constituents is likely to be mentioned in this month's report by Gen David Petraeus on the success of the US troop surge, which will warn that gains in curbing tit-for-tat violence will founder unless more progress is made in political reconciliation.

Civilian deaths from violence in Iraq rose in August to 1,773, according to government figures yesterday, up on the 1,653 killed in July. Some 411 died in the massive truck bombings among the Yazidi community in northern Iraq on a single day....

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