Eleven Pakistani prisoners arrived in Islamabad from Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, the second batch of Pakistanis to be released from the US detention centre, a government minister said.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Reuters that thegovernment was trying to win the release of all the Pakistaninationals being held in the prison on the island of Cuba, whichholds more than 600 al Qaeda and Taliban suspects.
Hayat said up to 50 Pakistanis were taken to the detentioncentre after US-led troops forced the Taliban movement frompower in neighbouring Afghanistan in December 2001.
State-owned Pakistan Television said the 11 Pakistanis wereput on a special US air force plane from Guantanamo Bay toPakistan earlier in the day. Five Pakistanis had already beenreleased.
The identities of the 11 were not immediately known. Theyare to be debriefed by Pakistani intelligence agencies beforebeing freed to join their families.
Many Pakistanis went to Afghanistan to fight alongside theTaliban when the hardline Islamic movement was under attack bythe US-led coalition forces following the September 11, 2001attacks on the United States.