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U.S. Frees Five Guantanamo Prisoners


The Pentagon has announced five men from Yemen have been released from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, after more than a dozen years of captivity.

The Pentagon said that one man was sent to Estonia and four to Oman.

This is the first time either nation has agreed to accept former Guantanamo prisoners for resettlement.

All five were captured in Pakistan and detained by the United States as suspected Al-Qaeda fighters.

U.S. officials determined it was no longer necessary to detain them but decided they couldn't be sent to Yemen because of instability there.

Washington has been trying to find other countries to accept the Yemeni prisoners amid an effort to close the detention center on the base in Cuba.

There are now 122 men held at Guantanamo.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters and AFP

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