WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday transferred 18 "war on terror" detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Afghanistan and Turkey for release after a tribunal declared they were no longer enemy combatants, the Pentagon said.
All but one of the detainees were transferred to Afghanistan, where they were released, US and Afghan officials said. One of the detainees was transferred to Turkey for release, the Pentagon said.
"This transfer includes 18 detainees found to no longer be an enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal," the Pentagon said in a statement.
A 10-month-long review process found that 38 of more than 550 prisoners at Guantanamo should no longer be classified enemy combatants, clearing the way for their release.
"A determination about the continued detention or transfer of a detainee is based on the best information and evidence available at the time," the Pentagon said.
"The circumstances in which detainees are apprehended can be ambiguous, and many of the detainees are highly skilled in concealing the truth."
The 18 were the first large group of prisoners cleared by the review process to be sent to their home countries.
The transfers left about 520 prisoners at a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that has housed suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
They raised to 232 the number of prisoners who have left Guantanamo. Of those, 149 were released and 65 were turned over to other governments, which in some cases continue to hold them and in other cases have let them go.
The Pentagon has said at least 10 prisoners returned to the fight against US forces after being released from Guantanamo.
04/19/2005 15:03 GMT