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BAGHDAD - Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi signed an amnesty law Saturday intended to persuade militants fighting a 15-month-old insurgency to put down their weapons and join efforts to rebuild the country.
But the law pardons only minor criminals, not killers or terrorists, and appeared unlikely to dampen the violence, as some insurgent leaders called it "insignificant."
Meanwhile, sporadic explosions and gunfire echoed through Najaf, south of the capital, as Shiite leaders appealed for a renewed cease-fire to end two days of bloody battles between insurgents and Iraqi and U.S. forces in several Shiite communities.
On Saturday night, at least 12 explosions rocked central Baghdad, apparently targeting the fortified Green Zone enclave housing the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi interim government buildings. The military said some of the explosions appeared to be mortars.
The Najaf fighting has threatened to revive a Shiite insurrection that broke out in April and was calmed in truces in June.
Five U.S. service members have been killed in Najaf, including two Marines who died Friday, the military said. The military says hundreds of militants have been killed, though the militiamen put the number far lower.
Also Friday, an insurgent fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. vehicle in Baghdad, killing a soldier.
The long-delayed amnesty, coupled with a tough emergency law passed last month, was supposed to help end the violence by coaxing nationalist guerrillas to the government's side.
The amnesty applies to minor crimes - such as weapons possession, hiding intelligence about terror attacks or harboring terrorists - and appears intended to persuade people with information on attacks to share it with police.
The amnesty forgives those who committed minor crimes between May 1, 2003, just after Saddam Hussein's regime fell, and Saturday, Allawi said.
"This amnesty is not for people . . . who have killed. Those people will be brought to justice, starting from Zarqawi down to the person in the street," Allawi said, referring to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose followers have claimed responsibility for deadly suicide bombings.
Rape, kidnapping, looting and terror attacks also are excluded.
Iraqi officials earlier said the amnesty might extend to those who killed U.S. and other coalition troops. U.S. officials said an early draft was ambiguous on that issue, but later drafts ruled it out.
The amnesty was rejected immediately by militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia has been fighting coalition forces in the Shiite holy city of Najaf and elsewhere since Thursday.
"This is a trivial and insignificant statement," said Sadr aide Ahmed al-Shaibany. "Amnesties are for criminals, but resistance is legitimate and does not need an amnesty."