Iraqi Sunni lawmaker released after kidnapping

BAGHDAD, Aug 26 (Reuters) A Sunni Arab lawmaker was released nearly two months after her kidnapping sparked a political furore in Iraq.

A member of her Iraqi Islamic Party said Taiseer Najah al- Mashhadani was freed yesterday after her captors made contact with Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.

Her release came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged hundreds of tribal leaders gathered in Baghdad to unite to end the bitter sectarian bloodshed between Sunnis and Shi'ites that has raised fears of civil war.

State television said after her release she met with Maliki, who is struggling to deliver on promises of easing sectarian tensions under his national reconciliation drive.

Mashhadani's abduction prompted the Iraqi Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni bloc, to briefly boycott parliament. Her party is the biggest in the Front.

Gunmen seized her and seven guards in a mainly Shi'ite district of Baghdad on July 1. Some Sunni leaders blamed the kidnapping on Shi'ite militias, whom they also accuse of death squad killings, a charge the militias deny.

REUTERS PDM RK2103