KHARTOUM, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese authorities Wednesday released 57 militants of the Darfur's rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who had been convicted for their involvement of an attack on Omdurman city in May 2008.

The move came one day after the Sudanese government inked a ceasefire agreement with the key Darfur rebel group in a big step toward ending seven years of conflicts in the western Sudanese region.

Sudanese Minister of Justice Abdul-Basit Sabdarat announced that the step came in accordance with an order issued by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, adding that the Sudanese leader had increased the percentage of JEM members to be released from 30 percent to 50 percent of those detained in connection with the Omdurman attack.

"Fifty of the prisoners released had been sentenced to death," said Sabdarat at a press conference in the federal prison of Kober, where the JEM militants had been jailed.

The minister expressed hope that efforts would be expedited to reach agreements so that the remaining JEM prisoners would be released.

He said the remaining JEM prisoners would be released in batches in accordance with the progress of the talks.

Bashir recently canceled death sentences against convicted JEM members and ordered release of 30 percent of them after Khartoum and JEM signed a framework agreement in Chad prior to comprehensive peace talks between the two sides.

The deal was followed by a ceasefire agreement signed between the two sides late Tuesday in the Qatari capital of Doha.