BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's military has released all the senior political and army officials it arrested earlier this week, a political and a military source said on Thursday.
The arrests of 22 officials by security forces drew broad international condemnation just days after the junta that seized power in a coup officially stepped aside for a civilian leader.
Any derailment of Mali's return to constitutional order would risk efforts by its neighbours to help Bamako try to retake northern regions seized by rebels since the coup.
"I can confirm that they have all been freed," an official in the CNRDRE, the group that seized power in the coup, told Reuters, asking not to be named.
A defence ministry source also confirmed that the officials, 11 civilians and 11 soldiers who were being held in the army town of Kati, just north of Bamako, had been released.
An anti-coup political leader said he had been assured the officials had been freed but it was not clear if they had left Kati yet.
All those held were seen as close to ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure just weeks before he was due to step down for an April 29 election to be held.
International organisations including the United Nations and the African Union on Wednesday condemned the wave of arrests. Politicians accused the military of not wanting to cede power.
A mix of separatist and Islamist rebels seized Mali's three northern regions as government forces which had been fighting on several fronts collapsed in the chaos that followed the coup.
The coup shattered Mali's reputation for stability in an otherwise turbulent region and the retreat of government forces in the north stoked fears that groups linked to al Qaeda and international criminals will take advantage of a security void.
(Reporting by David Lewis and Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Louise Ireland)
