BAGHDAD, 27 December 2007 — The Iraqi Cabinet approved a draft law yesterday that will offer a general pardon to thousands of prisoners in US military and Iraqi custody, a government spokesman said.

“The Cabinet has passed the general pardon law, which will define who is eligible to be freed from all prisons, both Iraqi and American,” spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh told Reuters. The law still needs to be approved by Parliament.

Iraq’s National Security Adviser Mowaffaq Al-Rubaie said earlier this month that the draft law was aimed at boosting reconciliation between Shiites and Sunni Arabs, locked in a cycle of violence. The issue of detainees in both US and Iraqi jails is one of the most sensitive, especially as detentions have soared since military operations were stepped up this year.

The Iraqi authorities now hold 24,000 detainees and US forces 26,000. Critics say only a small proportion of those held are ever prosecuted.

Sunni Arab leaders have repeatedly called for the release of detainees in American custody, most of whom are Sunni Arabs held as suspected insurgents.

The US military has said it intends to free most of its detainees by the end of next year. The US military yesterday described a decision by predominantly Sunni fighters to join in the battle against Al-Qaeda in Iraq as one of the most significant developments of 2007, but said the challenge now would be their integration into society.

The military also announced that an insurgent killed last month was just identified as a senior leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and a former associate of its leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi — who was slain by US forces last year.

The military said the insurgent killed north of Baghdad on Nov. 8 had been identified as Abu Abdullah, also known as Muhammad Sulayman Shunaythir Al-Zubai.

He was described as “an experienced bomb maker and attack planner who coordinated numerous attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces over the past three years, using a variety of improvised explosive devices combined with small-arms fire.”

Separately, a bomb explosion in the northern province of Ninevah killed three children and wounded another two, the US military said, quoting Iraqi police.

Police in Mosul, the capital of the province 360 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, said the roadside bomb exploded in a residential area. Police Brig. Abdul-Karim Al-Jibori said the children, aged 10 to 13, had been on their way to school.

An hour later, another roadside bomb targeted a passing military convoy but caused no casualties, Al-Jibori added.

Despite the attacks, violence in Iraq has dropped by 60 percent since June, the US military has said. US military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said yesterday that the creation of groups known as Awakening Councils — which the US military has dubbed Concerned Local Citizens — was a key factor in the reduction of violence.

“This is perhaps one of the most important developments in 2007,” Bergner said. “This was a decision by Iraqi citizens to confront Al-Qaeda and kick them out of their neighborhoods.” The big challenge for 2008, Bergner added, was how to integrate them into Iraqi society.

“The government of Iraq has recently taken the decision to assume responsibility for those citizens, to give them financial compensation and accept qualified individuals in the ranks of the security forces,” Bergner said.

Kirkuk Referendum Delayed

Lawmakers in Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region approved yesterday a six-month delay to a referendum to decide the fate of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is claimed by Kurds and Arabs.

The vote defuses for now a potentially explosive issue that analysts have warned could trigger a fresh wave of bloodletting in Iraq and draw in neighboring Turkey.

The speaker of Kurdistan’s Parliament Adnan Al-Mufti said the proposal, made by new United Nations special representative to Iraq Steffan de Mistura, had been overwhelmingly endorsed.

Parliament’s agreement to delay the referendum, due to take place by Dec. 31 under Article 140 of the constitution, is important as it has been a largely Kurdish-driven process.

17 Decomposed Bodies Found

The decomposed bodies of 17 men have been found in Iraq’s restive Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi Army said yesterday.

The bodies were found in a town near the provincial capital of Baquba, 65 km north of Baghdad, in the past two days. All had gunshot wounds in the head.

They were among 60 bodies found in Diyala over the past month, said Army Sgt. Nassir Al-Dulaimi, one of the soldiers who found them.