WASHINGTON, Oct 22: The United States is preparing to release a small number of the 598 suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners held at the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday.

Rumsfeld declined to give details, but told reporters the United States had determined they were no longer of intelligence value and were not candidates for criminal prosecution. Another senior defence official told Reuters the prisoners to be removed from the base included Pakistanis.

“Detainees” from 43 countries began arriving at the base from Afghanistan and other areas in January and are being held at a prison camp constructed for them.

One Afghan prisoner was repatriated to his homeland in April after doctors determined he was mentally ill.—Reuters