Myanmar frees thousands of prisoners, including 210 foreigners

Myanmar on Thursday ordered the release of thousands of prisoners including 210 foreigners, officials said, the latest in a series of amnesties under the reformist government that have seen sentences quashed for hundreds of dissidents.

Authorities acting on the instructions of President Thein Sein ordered some 6,966 detainees -- 210 of them foreigners -- to be freed across the country after they had been "well disciplined", according to a post on the Ministry of Information website.

It was not immediately clear if political prisoners were among those to be freed in the release.