WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of detainees held by the American-led military forces in Iraq has swelled by 50 percent under the troop increase ordered by President George W. Bush, with the inmate population growing to 24,500 today from 16,000 in February, U.S. media reported Saturday.

    The number of detainees increases because American forces are operating in areas where they had not been present for some time, and because more units are able to maintain a round-the-clock presence in some areas, The New York Times quoted U.S. military officials as saying.

Iraqi soldiers escort blindfolded detainees in an army camp in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, August 22, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

    In addition, more Iraqis were cooperating with military forces, the officials said.

    Nearly 85 percent of the detainees in custody are Sunni Arabs, the minority faction in Iraq that ruled the country under the government of Saddam Hussein, and the other detainees are Shiites, the Times said.

    Military officers said that of the Sunni detainees, about 1,800claim allegiance to al Qaida in Mesopotamia, a homegrown extremist group that American intelligence agencies have concluded is foreign-led. About 6,000 more identify themselves as takfiris, or Muslims who believe some other Muslims are not true believers.

    Those statistics would seem to indicate that the main inspiration of the hard-core Sunni insurgency is no longer a desire to restore the old order and has become religious and ideological, the report said.

Blindfolded detainees sit on the ground after they were arrested during a joint raid by the U.S. and Iraqi military forces in a village, south of Baghdad August 17, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

    The officers told the newspaper that an equally large number of Iraqi detainees say money is a significant reason they planted roadside bombs or shot at Iraqi and American-led forces.

    The detention system itself often serves as a breeding ground for the insurgency and a training opportunity for those who, after they are released, may attack Iraqi or American-led forces, military officers said.

    Of the detainees, 280 are from countries other than Iraq, and about 800 are juveniles, the report said, citing statistics supplied by the headquarters of Task Force 134, the American military unit in charge of detention operations in Iraq.

    Over all, the average length of detention is about a year, according to the report.