Baghdad ? Iraq’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved the draft of a general amnesty bill for detainees being held in Iraqi prisons, a measure that could go a long way toward reconciling Iraq’s warring sects and factions.

But the measure will not be brought to parliament for debate until March at the earliest, said Sami al-Askari, a key adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Many key draft laws – including measures to share oil revenue and to allow some members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to hold government jobs – have remained mired for months in Iraq’s gridlocked parliament.

There was no immediate reaction from Sunni lawmakers who have in the past called for such a bill.

Al-Askari, who is a parliament member, said the amnesty would not cover those convicted of terrorism, corruption, crimes against humanity and kidnapping.

The draft will also not involve prisoners being held by American forces, said Sadiq al-Rikabi, another al-Maliki adviser.

Both the Iraqi government and the U.S. military each hold more than 20,000 prisoners detained since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

It wasn’t clear how many prisoners might be affected by the proposed ban. Al-Askari estimated that “80 percent of those held in Iraqi prisons are there for terrorist crimes, therefore the amnesty would be for a limited number.”

The Cabinet vote came as U.S. officials forecast less violence in Iraq in 2008, despite a planned reduction of American troops.

The combination of more Sunni fighters in the Iraqi army and a recent backlash against militants will allow U.S.-led troops to leverage their ability to subdue violent areas, according to U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner.

“Those forces will help coalition forces fight above their weight. They will help offset the reduction in coalition numbers,” he told reporters.

The Bush administration plans to withdraw 30,000 American troops from Iraq by July, a reduction which would put the U.S. force level there at about 135,000.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said an insurgent killed last month has been identified as a senior leader of al-Qaida in Iraq and a former associate of its late leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was slain by U.S. forces last year.

Abu Abdullah, also known as Muhammad Sulayman Shunaythir al-Zubai, was killed by coalition troops north of Baghdad on Nov. 8. He was described in a military statement 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.”

The U.S. military said two soldiers were killed during fighting Wednesday in Ninevah province in the north. Three other soldiers were wounded. The names of the soldiers were withheld pending notification of family.

Separately, a bomb explosion in Ninevah killed three children and wounded another two, the U.S. military said, quoting Iraqi police.