WASHINGTON, Jan 11: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared on Friday that the detainees from the war in Afghanistan — some of whom just arrived at a US naval base in Cuba — are “unlawful combatants” and technically have no rights under the Geneva Convention.

“They will be handled not as prisoners of war — because they’re not — but as unlawful combatants,” Rumsfeld said of the detainees. “As I understand it, technically, unlawful combatants do not have any rights under the Geneva Convention.”

445 DETAINED: The number of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters who have been handed over to US forces has climbed to 445, General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday.