Taliban Releases 350 Prisoners

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Taliban Islamic army has released 350 minority prisoners from jail in western Afghanistan, the Red Cross said today.

Taliban officials released the prisoners late last month for Eid ul-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, said Red Cross spokesman Juan Martinez.

Taliban officials didn't publicize the prisoner release in Herat, 400 miles west of the Afghan capital. Martinez said the Red Cross only learned about it days later.

Since then, Red Cross officials have met with more than 300 of the former prisoners and are working to help them return home.

Most of the prisoners were minority Shiite Muslims who recently had been living as refugees across the border from Herat in Iran. Taliban authorities arrested them when they tried to return home, he said.

The Taliban, which has imposed its strict interpretation of Islam over the 85 percent of Afghanistan it controls, is a Sunni Muslim movement.

Taliban officials claim they represent all of Afghanistan's ethnic and religious groups, but have arrested hundreds of minority civilians in the past and accused them of being spies for the opposition.