The US Army freed scores of Iraqi prisoners on Thursday after announcing an amnesty the previous day for low-threat detainees rounded up over the past eight months.
Around 60 prisoners were driven in US military trucks from the notorious Abu Ghraib jail, west of Baghdad, and left by the roadside not far away, where they were met by jubilant friends and relatives.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition in Baghdad said the process of releasing prisoners under the amnesty had begun, but would not say specifically if those freed in a swirl of publicity on Thursday came under the new programme.
The US military has about 9,500 people in detention throughout Iraq and releases some almost every day, most of them people who have been held for 72 hours or less. Troops also detain new suspects every day in raids across Iraq.
On Wednesday, Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, announced that some 500 prisoners held for months on suspicion of associating with anti-American insurgents would be released in the coming weeks, with 100 to be freed on Thursday.
"I can tell you that the process of releasing prisoners as announced by Ambassador Bremer is under way," Dan Senor, a spokesman for the US-led coalition told a news conference.
"Ambassador Bremer said that approximately 100 prisoners would be ready to be released today and they are ready."
Senor said that for security and privacy reasons the coalition did not intend to provide precise numbers of those released under the amnesty programme, billed as a gesture of reconciliation.
While there was confusion over who exactly had been released, there was both jubilation and anger amongst those set free, many of whom had been held for several months.
One man said that now he was out he would take any opportunity to attack American troops.
"I'm free, but now I will attack them," he said.
The man, who declined to give his name, said he was detained in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, several months ago and had been poorly treated by the Americans in Abu Ghraib, the prison where Saddam Hussein once kept his worst enemies.
Others said they were looking forward to seeing loved ones.
"I'm very happy to be free," shouted Kamal Risaeya, 32, an identification tag still hanging from his leg. "I'm just looking forward to seeing my family."
Risaeya said he was arrested by US troops in Tikrit on suspicion of being an insurgent and held for five months and two days at Abu Ghraib. He said he was well treated.
Hundreds of Iraqis hoping friends and relatives would be among those let out on Thursday gathered outside the prison at dawn, many holding photos of loved ones. But they had to wait until mid-afternoon for the gates to open.
Two US Army trucks loaded with prisoners left what has been renamed Baghdad Central Penitentiary and sped away.
The prisoners were driven about two km (one mile) and dropped off under a highway bridge. Wearing civilian clothes, they shouted and cheered as they were greeted by loved ones, many of them with tears in their eyes.
Some people, however, were angry and disappointed. Several women held photographs of menfolk who they found had not been freed. "When will they free my son?" screamed one mother.