US forces release Sunni leader in Iraq, apologize
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) – U.S. forces apologized 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 on Saturday, hours after their arrests, said the
source, an official at the joint U.S.-Iraqi co-ordination
center in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. 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, U.S.-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.