More Iraqi prisoners freed under reconciliation plan

BAGHDAD, June 15 (Reuters) About 200 Iraqi prisoners were released today under a national reconciliation plan announced by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last week to free a total of 2,500 inmates, witnesses said.

A Reuters reporter saw the detainees being released from the US-run Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad. Many of those in US and Iraqi jails are believed held on suspicion of involvement in the Sunni Arab insurgency.

U S officials said a total of 430 would be freed today and tomorrow, adding to the release of roughly 750 prisoners since last week. Iraqi officials have said all 2,500 detainees will be freed by the end of this month.

Maliki's Shi'ite-led government hopes the move will help draw members of the disgruntled minority Sunni community into the U.S.-backed political process in a bid to defuse a raging insurgency.

When he made the prisoner release announcement, Maliki said it will only include people who had no evidence against them and who were not Saddam Hussein loyalists or people with ''Iraqi blood on their hands.'' REUTERS CH HT1525