Iraqi election officials have released preliminary results from last week's elections, showing that the main Shi'ite coalition has a strong lead in Baghdad province. The partial results showed the Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance won about 58 percent of the vote in the country's most populous region.
A Sunni Arab coalition, Iraqi Consensus Front, received about 18 percent of the vote. Partial results for other areas show that votes were mostly divided along religious or ethnic lines. Final tallies are expected in coming days. Meanwhile, the U.S. military released eight high-value detainees, including two Iraqi scientists accused of making biological weapons for Saddam Hussein's regime. An Iraqi lawyer said scientists Rihab Taha and Huda Saleh Mahdi Amash were among those freed after they were found to be no longer a security threat. In Baghdad, insurgent attacks killed at least five people Monday.