U.S. Says Iraqi Women Not Held As Hostages

8 April 2005 -- The U.S. military today said that two Iraqi women detained for six days were held on suspicion of complicity in insurgent attacks, not as hostages.

U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Clifford Kent released a statement saying that the U.S. military does not take hostages.

U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police detained the two women on 2 April. They were released on 7 April.

Earlier this week, reports from the Reuters news agency quoted family members of the two women alleging that U.S. soldiers detained the women in order to pressure some of their fugitive relatives to surrender. A Reuters correspondent later appeared to corroborate those claims.

(Reuters)