RIYADH, July 1: Saudi Arabia has dispatched a team of experts from the ministries of interior and foreign affairs to the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to gain first hand information about the condition of Saudi detainees there.

The United States has agreed to provide access to any Saudi team to the detainees.

Saudi interior Minister Prince Naif had earlier said that over 100 Saudis were detained at the camp. The Saudi side has been requesting the US authorities not only for access to the detainees, but also calling upon them to repatriate the prisoners to Saudi Arabia.

More than 560 suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters _ nationals of over 30 countries _ are detained at the camp.

They were arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the US authorities later transferred them to Cuba on suspicion of links with the Al Qaeda organization.

When President Musharraf visited Saudi Arabia last month, the issue of Saudi detainees also came up for discussion between him and Crown Prince Abdullah.

Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmad had complained last month that the US had not as yet granted the kingdom direct access to the inmates. He said he had recently met representatives of the International Committee of the Red Crescent to inquire about the Saudi prisoners.

Relatives of some of the detainees have received letters through the ICRC, intimating them of their presence at the camp.