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Iraqi voters favor religious groups

BAGHDAD - Preliminary election returns Monday showed Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines with a commanding lead held by the religious Shiite coalition that dominates the current government.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi lawyer said at least 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime were freed from jail without charges. They may have included biological and chemical weapons experts known as "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax."

Early vote tallies suggested disappointing results for a secular party led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a U.S. favorite who hoped to bridge the often violent divide that has emerged between followers of rival branches of Islam since the fall of Hussein.

As expected, religious groups, both Shiite and Sunni, were leading in many areas - an indication that Iraqis may have grown more religious or conservative.

Still, the ruling Shiite coalition - known as the United Iraqi Alliance and endorsed by Iraq's most prominent cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - was unlikely to win the two-thirds majority, or at least 184 seats, needed to avoid a coalition with other parties.

Preliminary results of Thursday's elections for the 275-member parliament from 11 provinces showed the United Iraqi Alliance winning strong majorities in Baghdad and largely Shiite provinces in the south.

Kurdish parties were overwhelmingly ahead in their three northern provinces, while the results from one of the four predominantly Sunni Arab provinces, Salahuddin, showed the Sunni Arab minority winning a majority.

The elections played a role in the release from prison of the 24 or 25 officials from Hussein's government, said Badee Izzat Aref, the Iraqi lawyer who made the announcement.

"The release was an American-Iraqi decision and in line with an Iraqi government ruling made in December 2004, but hasn't been enforced until after the elections in an attempt to ease the political pressure in Iraq," Aref said.

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, would say only that eight individuals formerly designated as high-value detainees were released Saturday after a board process found they were no longer a security threat and no charges would be filed against them.

Neither the U.S. military nor Iraqi officials would disclose any of the names.

However, the Associated Press, citing an unnamed legal official in Baghdad, reported that biological and chemical weapons experts known as "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax" were among the freed inmates. Rihab Taha, a British-educated biological weapons expert, is known as "Dr. Germ" for her role in making bioweapons in the 1980s; Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a former top Baath Party official and biotech researcher, is known as "Mrs. Anthrax."

Ammash was No. 39, or the five of hearts, on America's most-wanted deck of cards list. She was captured on May 9, 2003.

The Associated Press reported that the official also said that those released included Hossam Mohammed Amin, head of the weapons inspections directorate, and Aseel Tabra, an Iraqi Olympic committee official under Odai Saddam Hussein, the former leader's son.

Five Army Rangers sentenced in detainee abuse case

BAGHDAD - Five soldiers from an elite U.S. Army unit were sentenced in cases concerning the abuse of detainees in Iraq, the military said Monday.

The five, all from the 75th Ranger Regiment, pleaded guilty during courts-martial this month and received sentences ranging from 30-day to six-month confinements and reduction in rank, the U.S. military said in a statement. Two will also be dishonorably discharged from the Army after serving their time.

The statement said charges were brought after an investigation into allegations of abuse on Sept. 7, but did not provide any details of the nature of the abuse or where it took place. It did not identify any of the soldiers.

All five pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty, while four pleaded guilty to charges of assault and battery, and two pleaded guilty to maltreatment, the military said.

Iraqis protest violently against increase in gasoline prices

BAGHDAD - Violent demonstrations broke out across Iraq and the oil minister threatened to resign Monday after the government raised the prices of gasoline and cooking fuel by up to nine times.

The Cabinet raised the prices of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas on Sunday to curb a growing black market, Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said that when the Cabinet increased prices, it also decided that the extra money would be used to establish a fund for more than 2-million low-income families to help them pay for the fuel.

The price of locally produced gasoline was raised about sevenfold to about 46 cents a gallon. The current government has continued Saddam Hussein's policy of heavily subsidizing fuel prices.

Militant group says video shows execution of American hostage

BAGHDAD - A video posted by an extremist group on a Web site Monday showed a man it said was an American hostage being shot in the back of the head and claimed the victim was U.S. contractor Ronald Allen Schulz.

The Islamic Army of Iraq said the man shown in the video was Schulz. The group issued an Internet statement Dec. 8 saying he had been killed after the United States failed to respond to its demand for the release of Iraqi prisoners, and that pictures of the slaying would be released later.

The video did not show the man's face and it was impossible to identify him conclusively.

[Last modified December 20, 2005, 01:51:07]