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List of Guantanamo detenus released

SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico): The U.S. Government released the most extensive list yet of the hundreds of detenus who have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison — nearly all labelled enemy combatants, but only a handful of whom have faced formal charges.

In all, 558 persons were named in the list provided by the Pentagon on Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press.

They were among the first swept up for suspected links to Al-Qaeda or the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The list is the first official roster of Guantanamo detenus who passed through the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process in 2004 and 2005 to determine whether they should be deemed ``enemy combatants.''

Those named are from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and 39 other countries.

Many have been held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years. Some names are familiar, such as David Hicks, a Muslim from Australia charged with fighting U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

He is one of 10 detenus selected to be tried by a military tribunal on charges of attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy to commit terrorism. Hicks allegedly fought for the Taliban, and Australian news media have said British authorities contend he admitted undergoing training with British Islamist extremists, including Richard Reid, who was convicted of trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic airliner with a shoe bomb.— AP

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