BAGHDAD - US authorities have freed 2,404 detainees in the four weeks of Ramadan, the American military said on Monday, still short of the 3,000 they promised to release during the Muslim fasting month. Releases accelerated in the past week as 955 were freed, compared to a total of 1,449 for the first three weeks of Ramadan, the military said in a statement.At the begining of the fasting month, the US military promised to free about 3,000 detainees during Ramadan which ends this week. However, the US military said they expected more people to be released in the next few days.
"The projections for the final few days of the Ramadan release period are ambitious and assume no delays or unexpected interruptions to the release process," the statement added.
The US military, however, warned against haste. "These are not mass releases, but fair releases," US military spokesman Brigadier General David Quantock said in a separate statement. He added they have speeded up the process of reviewing cases against detainees.
With the latest releases, the number of detainees in US custody has dropped to 17,900, the statement said. Since the start of 2008, some 14,200 detainees have been freed.