[JURIST] The US military on Thursday announced the release of 419 Iraqi detainees [press release], including five women detainees [JURIST report]. The decision to release the detainees followed a review by the Combined Review and Release Board [press release], an Iraqi-led panel that includes representatives from the Iraqi Ministries of Human Rights, Justice and Interior and the US military. The detainees are to be released Thursday and Friday from detention facilities near Baghdad. US officials insisted that the release of the five Iraqi women was part of routine procedures and had no links to the case of Jill Carroll [CNN profile; CSM updates], an American reporter abducted in Baghdad on January 7. Carroll's kidnappers threatened to kill her last Friday unless all women prisoners were released. There has been no word of her fate. US military officials have previously confirmed [JURIST report] that eight women are being held at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] and has since acknowledged detaining two more women for allegedly taking part in insurgent activities in Mosul. Reuters has more.