Special report: Tensions accelerate in Iraq

    

In this photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office, Iraqi kidnapped Sunni lawmaker Tayseer al-Mashhadani talks to the media after meeting the Iraqi Prime minister, soon after her release, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Aug. 26, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

BAGHDAD, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- A female Sunni Arab lawmaker kidnapped nearly two months ago was released on Saturday, which is hailed by the Iraqi prime minister as a "gift" for his national reconciliation plan.

    Taiseer Najah al-Mashhadani, a member of the Sunni Consensus Front, was abducted with her five bodyguards on July 1 when gunmen ambushed her convoy in a Shiite neighborhood in northeastern Baghdad.

    Shortly after being freed, al-Mashhadani met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri la-Maliki.

    Following the meeting, she told reporters the captors treated her well and she kept encouraging them to join the national reconciliation process.

    As to her bodyguards, al-Mashhadani said three of her bodyguards were released shortly afterward and other two were still being held by the kidnappers, who said they would be released soon.

    Al-Maliki described al-Mashhadani's release as a "gift" for the national reconciliation project, saying "it is an important step and achievement for the reconciliation process, this is a good start."

    Earlier Saturday, al-Maliki met with hundreds of Iraqi tribal leader for the first time, which is seen as part of his reconciliation plan to end the bitter sectarian bloodshed between Sunnis and Shiites and achieve peace and stability in Iraq.

    Though no organization claims responsibility for the abduction so far, it is believed that Shiite militia are behind the kidnapping. Enditem