|
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2006 – About 50 male detainees were released today from the Theater Internment Facilities in Iraq, and Iraqi and U.S. forces helped flood victims yesterday in northern Iraq, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported.
Officials said the Combined Review and Release Board reviewed the detainees' cases and recommended release. The Iraqi-led CRRB, established in August 2004, consists of members from the ministries of Human Rights, Justice and Interior, as well as officers from the multinational forces. To date, the board has reviewed the cases of more than 27,200 detainees, recommending more than 14,300 individuals for release, officials said. Iraqi and U.S. soldiers rescued dozens of people southeast of Mosul after powerful storms swept through northern Iraq, causing flooding along a Tigris River tributary. Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division, used small boats and braved strong currents to rescue nearly 100 people stranded on small islands in the rain-swollen Great Zab River. Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 542nd Medical Company (Air Ambulance) responded to the Ninevah governor's request for assistance and transported two men stranded on an island that the boats couldn't reach because of the current. The medical evacuation crews also dropped off food and drinking water. Two OH-58 Kiowa helicopters searched the river's course for additional victims, but none were found, officials said. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
|
