DHAKA: The Pentagon plans the transfer of 17 Guantanamo Bay detainees in the coming weeks - a move that would cut the US prison's population to 90, reports say.

US media quote officials as saying Defence Secretary Ashton Carter has already told Congress about the move, reports the BBC.
 
It would reportedly be the largest number of detainee transfers in a single month since 2007.

President Barack Obama wants to close the controversial jail in Cuba, set up during the "war on terror" in 2002.

It is being used to detain what Washington calls "enemy combatants", following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.

The first 20 detainees were transferred to the facility on 11 January 2002, and a total of 780 men have been held since then - the vast majority without charge or criminal trial.

BDST: 0920  HRS, DEC 18, 2015
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