US frees fighters of radical Iraqi cleric - report

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO349888.htm

NAJAF, Iraq, June 13 (Reuters) - Twenty-nine militia fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were freed from U.S. detention on Thursday under Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national reconciliation plan, a Sadr spokesman said.

The conciliatory gesture came as Sadr called for an end to the bloodletting between Shi'ites and Sunnis in recent days that has killed scores in Baghdad. The U.S. military and the police have blamed Shi'ite militia fighters for much of the violence.

The surge in violence has included kidnappings. Among those abducted was a Sunni lawmaker whose purported kidnappers have demanded the release of prisoners held in U.S. detention. Some Sunni leaders have blamed the kidnapping on Shi'ite militias.

A Sunni politician had said the kidnappers promised to free her on Thursday. U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a major hunt to find the lawmaker, whose abduction triggered a week-long boycott of parliament by the biggest Sunni political bloc.