BAGHDAD: The US military on Thursday released 500 Iraqi detainees at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at Camp Victory, a large military base near Baghdad airport.

Maliki urged the mostly-Sunni detainees to help his government’s efforts in “rebuilding the country”, as they sat in rows under the hot sun.

The prime minister later told reporters the prisoners had been released “on a humanitarian basis”, adding that it was part of a broader national reconciliation programme his government embarked upon last year.

“We must see that they return back to their normal life, to their families and children. We want them to take part in rebuilding the country,” the Shiite premier said.

Around 20,000 detainees are held in US-run prisons in Iraq, mostly in Camp Bucca near the southern port city of Basra and at Camp Cropper near Baghdad.

Most of them are believed to be Sunni Arabs detained during military operations across the country on suspicion of aiding the anti-US insurgency and have been held without charge for months or years.

The US military says the average time that a detainee spends in one of its two prisons is one year.—AFP