WASHINGTON, Jan 30: Three children held at the terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have been released and returned to their home country, said a VoA report.

The three children, aged 13 to 15, were arrested in Afghanistan, two in raids on Taliban camps and the third while allegedly trying to obtain weapons to fight American forces.

In a dispatch, Alex Belida states that Defence officials considered them enemy combatants who, despite their youth, had engaged in armed conflict or provided support to those fighting US troops.

But the US decision to imprison the juveniles with more than 600 other Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects at Guantanamo Bay stirred concern among international human rights groups when it was revealed last year.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it did not consider Guantanamo to be an appropriate place to detain juveniles. The Human Rights Watch called their detention a grave risk to their well-being.

US officials said that it was not easy to determine accurately the youths' ages and eventually required medical tests, including bone-density scans.-APP