BAGHDAD, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. forces released 419 Iraqi prisoners Thursday, among them five women, which could benefit the fate of kidnapped U.S. journalist Jill Carroll.
Bosho Ibrahim Ali, a deputy Justice minister, told CNN there were nine women in custody, and the remaining four might be released at another time. Ali said last week he had begun efforts to free the female detainees before Carroll was kidnapped in Baghdad.
Last week, militants said they would execute Carroll if all female prisoners in U.S. detention in Iraq were not freed. Carroll was working as a freelance writer for the Christian Science Monitor when she was abducted Jan. 7.
The prisoners' releases were determined on a case-by-case basis by the Combined Review and Release Board, made up of officials from the U.S. and Iraqi armed forces and Iraq's Human Rights, Justice and Interior ministries.
