At least 19 other deaths were reported in Baghdad. The bodies of five men apparently slain after a mass factory kidnapping Wednesday were among Friday's toll. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization linking seven insurgent groups including al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed it killed 81 workers who were "building a new American base." It was not clear if the group was referring to the factory kidnap victims, and the Internet claim could not be independently verified.

The U.S. military also reported that two Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldiers were killed Friday morning when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb southeast of the capital. Earlier in the day, a separate military statement reported that two U.S. Marines were killed during combat in the volatile Anbar province in separate attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, and a soldier died elsewhere in a non-combat incident on Wednesday.

Those death announcements came a day after the military said five other U.S. troops were killed in operations south and west of Baghdad and three days after the bodies of two American soldiers who went missing after an attack on their checkpoint were recovered.

The U.S. military said Wednesday that one and possibly both of the soldiers were tortured and beheaded, and their bodies were sent to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for DNA testing.

At least 2,517 members of the U.S. military have died since the war started more than three years ago, according to an Associated Press count.

On the political front, a key politician said the Iraqi government will present a 28-point national reconciliation plan to parliament Sunday that would grant some insurgents amnesty and ask for approval of a series of steps for Iraqis to take over security from U.S. troops.

Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman said the plan also would include a timeline for preparing Iraqi forces to take over security from U.S. forces.

That would fit with the overall U.S.-led coalition strategy to transfer security to Iraqi forces in certain regions while withdrawing to larger regional bases to stand ready to help in case of emergency. A final stage would involve the drawdown of U.S. troops from those bases.

"There is no finite and U.N.-approved timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops, but there is a timeline to accomplish the readiness of Iraqi security forces to take over security in the country," Othman said.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities also released 500 more detainees from American detention centers, the latest to be freed as part of al-Maliki's promise to release 2,500 by month's end as part of his reconciliation efforts.