WASHINGTON, Feb 11: The US government on Monday announced murder and war crimes charges against six suspects in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and is seeking death penalty against them.

Pentagon officials told a briefing in Washington that they are seeking the death penalty against the suspects because they have been involved in the conspiracy to attack the United States and also participated in executing this plan.

These would be the first trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system the US administration has set up to try terror suspects. The suspects include the alleged mastermind of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. All six held at the US military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Gen Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunal system, told reporters at the Pentagon the military wants the six tried together.

A military judge will now review the evidence and recommend whether to move forward with a trial.

“The six individuals are allegedly responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks’’ which occurred on Sept 11, 2001 and killed nearly 3,000 people, Brig Hartmann said.

They were involved in “a long term, highly sophisticated, organised plan by Al Qaeda to attack the US.”

The charges include conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war and material support for terrorism. The Bush administration recently acknowledged that interrogators used waterboarding on Khalid Sheik Mohammed and two other detainees.