John Bacon

USA TODAY

Ten Guantanamo Bay detainees have been handed over to the government of Oman, bringing the number of suspected terrorists held at the controversial center under 100, the Pentagon said Thursday.

President Obama, in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, reiterated his determination to close the camp that dates back to 2002. Almost 800 prisoners have spent time at the facility on the island of Cuba that now houses 93 suspects, the lowest total since it opened, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Guantanamo Review Task Force studied the cases, and the detainees were unanimously approved for transfer by the six departments and agencies involved, the statement said. It said the transfer took place with "appropriate security and humane treatment measures."

"The United States is grateful to the Government of Oman for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the statement said.

Obama made closing the prison a priority when he took office in 2009, but the pledge has proven difficult to make happen. Detainees from the war on terror in Afghanistan and elsewhere were flown to the base, but difficulties arose as authorities struggled with the issue of trying them in military courts or resettling those deemed safe.

Some of the detainees are involved in lengthy military court cases, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The transferred detainees are from war-torn Yemen. They include Fahed Abdullah Ahmad Ghazi, Samir Naji al-Hasan Muqbil, Adham Mohamed Ali Awad, Mukhtar Yahya Naji al-Warafi, Abu Bakr Ibn Muhammad al-Ahdal, Muhammad Salih Husayn al-Shaykh, Muhammad Said Salim Bin Salman, Said Muhammad Salih Hatim, Umar Said Salim al-Dini, and Fahmi Abdallah Ahmad Ubadi al-Tulaqi.

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook



