US Forces Free Iranians Held in Iraq

US troops today released a group of Iranians to Iraqi officials after detaining them at a central Baghdad hotel overnight.

"They were detained yesterday by American forces and were released this morning," Yasin Majid, a media adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, told Reuters.

American troops raided Baghdad's Sheraton Ishtar hotel and took away a group of about 10 people late yesterday. The seven Iranians included an embassy official and six members of a delegation from Iran's electricity ministry.

Videotape shot last night by Associated Press Television News showed US troops leading about 10 blindfolded and handcuffed men out of the hotel. Other soldiers carried out what appeared to be luggage and at least one briefcase and a laptop computer bag.

The latest incident between the US and Iran came as the US president, George Bush, made a tough speech against Iran.

In an address to the American Legion convention in Reno, Nevada, Mr Bush said: "I have authorised our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities."

The US has consistently accused Iran of providing support for extremists in Iraq, particularly in the making of roadside bombs that have taken an increasing toll on American convoys and patrols. Iran has rejected such accusations and says it is the presence of US troops that is at the root of the violence in Iraq.

Besides accusing Iran of stirring up trouble in Iraq, the US has been pressing for more sanctions against Tehran for its alleged efforts to develop nuclear bombs.

Relations between the US and Iran are already strained by the detention of each other's citizens, as well as US accusations of Iranian involvement in Iraq's violence and alleged Iranian efforts to develop nuclear bombs.

The US is still holding five Iranians who were seized in January. American officials say the five include the operations chief and other members of Iran's elite Quds Force, which is accused of arming and training Iraqi militants. For its part, Iran is holding several Iranian-Americans on spying charges, although it freed an American-Iranian academic last week.

Meanwhile, Mr Maliki flew to the city of Kerbala and declared that order had been restored after clashes between rival Shia groups had left 52 people dead and sent hundreds of thousands of pilgrims fleeing.

But the violence among rival factions appeared to have spread overnight, with gunmen attacking the offices of one powerful Shia party in at least five cities and setting many of them ablaze.

Mr Maliki said his troops had restored calm to the city and blamed "outlawed armed criminal gangs from the remnants of the buried Saddam regime" for the violence.

The battles appeared to pit the two biggest Shia groups against each other - followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia, and the rival Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) that controls police in much of the south.