| BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq on Wednesday started releasing 592 detainees under an initiative by Iraq's prime minister to foster national reconciliation.
They were the first group of 2,500 detainees to be released. The program is designed to placate Sunni factions and counter sectarian strife.
Released inmates dropped off at a bus station in Baghdad kissed the ground and sat down and cheered, The Associated Press reported. One man used crutches for support.
"I was arrested from my home on December 19, 2004, so I was accused of kidnapping people working for Iraqna mobile [telephone] company," one released prisoner, Mohammed Jassim, told AP.
Many of those in prison -- estimated at more than 28,000 -- are believed to be held on suspicion of involvement in a Sunni-Arab rebellion against the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led government, according to Reuters.
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