By NNN-KUNA
Baghdad : The Iraqi cabinet has approved on Wednesday a decree granting an amnesty for thousands of prisoners who were detained by Iraqi and U.S. forces under charges of terrorism.
The cabinet approved the decree which defines the prisoners in the Iraqi and U.S. jails nationwide who are eligible for the amnesty, the Iraqi state-run Television, quoted government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh as saying here.
The decree was hailed by the Baath Eradication Committee (BEC).
“The move is conducive to the Iraqi national reconciliation,” said Executive Director of the BEC Ali Allami in an interview with KUNA.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki announced in November his plan to pardon large numbers of prisoners.
He instructed his legal advisers to assess the cases of prisoners who were misled by terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, a Macedonian battalion headed Wednesday to Iraq, where it will join the Multi-National Force (MNF) involved in security operations in the country.
Interfax news agency said the battalion, which left from the Mihailo Apostolski base at the costal Macedonian city of Ohrid, comprises 120 soldiers and 16 officers, all of whom had received four months of additional special training.
Macedonian Defense Minister Lazar Elenovski was quoted as saying that battalion would be working within the US-led coalition force, and would be responsible for security at military bases at Taji, close to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Macedonia has been participating in the coalition force since 2003 with medics, infantry troops and military maintenance units.
In another development, police found a spy plane concealed with other heavy weapons in an arms depot in the southern city of Basra.
State-owned television said on Wednesday the police forces discovered, late on Tuesday, the clandestine depot, packed with a huge cache of weapons and explosives in one of Basra districts, where the British Army handed security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces 10 days ago.
The police found a spy plane, heavy weapons, documents and videos, the television said without revealing the type of the plane or the weapons.
The Iraqi forces located, earlier this year, a Russian helicopter in southern Baghdad. The multi-winged aircraft belonged to the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.