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Al Qaeda prisoners brought to Marine base
The 15 prisoners brought in darkness to a makeshift detention facility at a U.S. Marine base in Afghanistan were mostly young Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent said.
The 15 prisoners brought in darkness to a makeshift detention facility at a U.S. Marine base in Afghanistan were mostly young Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent said.
The agent said the prisoners did not include any of the FBI's most wanted fugitives. But U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said it was thought they may have information that could help capture Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden or divulge plans for further al Qaeda attacks on the United States.
"We concluded, in conjunction with people holding them, that these were people who might have important information and might be themselves senior people," Wolfowitz said.
The prisoners, four of them injured, arrived at Kandahar International Airport late Tuesday, and were being held under heavy guard in a compound with space for 120 prisoners and surrounded by adobe walls and rolls of barbed wire.
Marine spokesman Captain David Romley said the injured had received medical treatment and their wounds were not life-threatening. U.S. Army military police were dispatched to bolster security around the prison compound.
Romley refused to give personal details about the detainees, except to say some speak Urdu, Pakistan's main language. Al Qaeda members are believed to include Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and other foreign nationals. They have been fingerprinted. Bureau Report
"We concluded, in conjunction with people holding them, that these were people who might have important information and might be themselves senior people," Wolfowitz said.
The prisoners, four of them injured, arrived at Kandahar International Airport late Tuesday, and were being held under heavy guard in a compound with space for 120 prisoners and surrounded by adobe walls and rolls of barbed wire.
Marine spokesman Captain David Romley said the injured had received medical treatment and their wounds were not life-threatening. U.S. Army military police were dispatched to bolster security around the prison compound.
Romley refused to give personal details about the detainees, except to say some speak Urdu, Pakistan's main language. Al Qaeda members are believed to include Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and other foreign nationals. They have been fingerprinted. Bureau Report