WASHINGTON, Nov 6: The White House said on Monday the “lion’s share” of the more than 1,100 people detained in connection with the Sept 11 attacks on the United States have been released — sharply contradicting the Justice Department, which says most are still being held.

As rights groups grow more vocal in their questions about the arrests, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Monday claimed that there were not many people still being held by the US government.

“In fact the lion’s share of the people are not still in custody,” he told reporters at the White House. “Most of the people, the overwhelming number of the people were detained; they were questioned and then they’ve been released.”

Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker, whose office has provided a running tally of the steadily growing number of people arrested or detained in connection with the investigation, has said the majority were still being held.

Tucker said she was not sure why Fleischer had different information and was trying to figure out which was correct.

As of Monday, she said 1,182 people had been arrested or detained in connection with the investigation. She did not have a specific number for those detained on immigration charges, but as of last Friday 185 of those arrested were being held by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Tucker said on Friday that the INS detainees were arrested for allegedly violating immigration law and for having connections to terrorist grounds or activities.

Last week a group of 21 civil liberties, human rights and electronic privacy groups filed a request under the US Freedom of Information Act seeking information about individuals arrested in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.

The request asks the Justice Department to release the names of all those arrested and any charges filed against them.

Although Justice Department officials have given reporters a tally of the arrests — which have been rising steadily over the past few weeks — they will not be specific as to the identities of those who have been arrested and who has been questioned and released.—Reuters