Carroll: Military not involved

2006-03-30 21:16

Washington - The US military was not involved in the release of American journalist Jill Carroll, defence department spokesperson Bryan Whitman said on Thursday.

Carroll, who was kidnapped in Iraq three months ago in a bloody ambush, was released on Thursday

Whitman said it was also not yet clear whether the military would play any role in her transportation out of Iraq.

He added that there were still five female detainees being held in detention facilities in Iraq.

Earlier Carroll's captors - a previously unknown group calling itself the Revenge Brigades - publicly demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq.

A short time later five female detainees were released.

President George W Bush rejoiced on Thursday in Carroll's release.

"Thank God," the president said.

"I'm just really grateful she was released," he said. He thanked those "who worked so hard for her release. I'm glad she's alive".

Bush spoke in Cancun, Mexico, where he is meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In Berlin for a conference with counterparts, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice expressed "great delight and great relief of the United States, the people of the United States and, I'm sure, the people of the world at the release today of Jill Carroll".

"This is something that people have across the world worked for and prayed for and I think we are all very pleased and happy to hear of her release," Rice said.

- AP