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50 detainees returned to Kandahar

Troops from U.S. 101st Airborne helped to return the men and the original raid

KANDAHAR AIRBASE, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Fifty of the 55 people detained last week in a raid of a village west of Kandahar were released on Thursday after U.S. authorities determined they were not al Qaeda members, authorities said.

The men were taken to the city of Kandahar and set free, a U.S. military spokesman said.

There was no confirmation that the body of one individual killed in the raid was also taken to Kandahar, but witnesses told CNN they saw the body being carried in a convoy.

"Five are still of interest to us, and have been retained," Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington. "The fact that there was not a large concentration [of detainees] is not necessarily bad news."

The spokesman in Kandahar characterized last week's raid as a success, but offered few details as to whether high-ranking Taliban or al Qaeda members were among those still detained.

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"We can surmise that those who remain in custody have intelligence value, so that is why they remain in custody," said Major A.C. Roper, spokesman for the coalition task force in Kandahar.

"The mission was a success," said Roper, referring to the May 23 raid. "We denied the enemy the use of the area and demonstrated our resolve to see the mission to its end."

Roper would not say whether the detained are being held on the Kandahar airbase.

CNN Correspondent Lisa Rose Weaver overheard military officials talking about a return of detainees over their radios on the base earlier in the day.

Kandahar has a facility for detainees on the base, which is off-limits to journalists.

Elements of the 101st Aviation, military police and other members of the coalition task force at Kandahar participated in the return. The approximately 50 detainees were flown into a soccer stadium at Kandahar by Chinook helicopters, where they were joined by fellow villagers and family members, the spokesman said.

The village, west of Kandahar, is in Kandahar Province. The raid that occurred there May 23 led to the death of one Afghan when coalition forces returned fire at what they suspected was a compound housing high-ranking Taliban members and possibly members of the al Qaeda network.