Baghdad, Iraq ? Iraq’s U.S.-led administration will release 506 prisoners from detention camps, while simultaneously offering bounties for 30 more Iraqis wanted in the anti-American insurgency, officials said Tuesday.

Coalition officials said the releases — out of some 12,800 detainees — were aimed at fostering more goodwill and intelligence tips, which they said have surged in the three weeks since Saddam Hussein’s capture.

Most to be released are suspected low-level “associates” of insurgents, none directly involved in attacks, said three senior coalition officials — two military and one civilian — who gave reporters a briefing Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

“Let me reassure you that this is not a program for those with bloodstained hands,” said a statement from U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer.

The officials said they would become “increasingly aggressive with the die-hards” but use “a carrot approach to those who are sitting on the fence.”

One military official described the typical prisoner awaiting release as a person swept up in a raid that also captured “more dangerous persons” and perhaps weapons. Another official suggested the detainees might have acted out of fear of Saddam’s return.

Bremer’s statement describes the release as a pardon for some Iraqis who worked against the U.S. occupation. “They made a mistake, and they know it. We are prepared to offer some of them a new chance,” the statement said.