US military frees nine Iranian prisoners

Baghdad: Nine Iranians held in Iraq were released from US military detention on Friday because they no longer posed a security threat, the military said in a statement.

Two of those released were among five captured in northern Arbil in January on suspicion of assisting Shiite militias in Iraq.

US officials accuse them of being members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Qods Force.

"All nine individuals were determined to no longer pose a security risk and to be of no continued intelligence value," the statement said.

There was no immediate reaction from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad but Tehran has maintained that the five captured in Arbil are diplomats.