WASHINGTON, March 16: Three Pakistanis are among those 26 prisoners that the United States released from the Guantanamo Bay prison for transfer home. All others - 23 - are Afghans.

The Pentagon announced on Monday that all the prisoners were being released back to their home countries with no further legal action. Last week, the Pentagon released five prisoners to the British government. US authorities, however, were disappointed when Britain released all of them the following day.

The Guantanamo Bay jail holds roughly 640 prisoners, including 58 Pakistanis. So far about a dozen Pakistanis have already been released. Most of the Pakistani and other prisoners were captured in Afghanistan, others elsewhere.

"The circumstances in which detainees are apprehended can be ambiguous and many of them are highly skilled in concealing the truth," the Pentagon said. "We make a determination about the detention and release of a detainee based on the best information and evidence we have at the time."

Some of the prisoners have been held for as long as two years as "enemy combatants" - a label that exempts them from the Geneva Convention protections conferred by "prisoner of war" status. So far 119 detainees have been released from the prison camp with no further action taken.