US forces release Sunni leader in Iraq, apologise

TIKRIT, Iraq, June 24 (Reuters) US forces apologised to a senior Sunni Arab religious leader and his two sons after arresting them in a raid on the family's home they said was based on bad intelligence, an Iraqi security source said.

Sheikh Jamal Abdel Karim al-Dabaan and his sons were released today, hours after their arrests, said the source, an official at the joint US-Iraqi co-ordination centre in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

There was no immediate comment from the US military.

Dabaan is a top Mufti, or religious authority, for most of Iraq's minority Sunni Muslim community, which was dominant under Saddam Hussein and now forms the backbone of the insurgency against the Shi'ite-led, US-backed government.

Tikrit is the hometown of Saddam, who is on trial for crimes against humanity.

The deputy governor of Salahaddin province, a mostly Sunni region, said earlier most provincial government offices had suspended work in protest at the arrest of Dabaan and were refusing to return to work until he was freed.

REUTERS SHB KP1759