US to seek death for six 9/11 detainees

THE Pentagon has charged six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11 attacks.

Officials said yesterday they will seek the death penalty in what would be the first capital trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system.

“These charges allege a long-term, highly sophisticated, organised plan by al-Qaida to attack the United States of America,” Brig Gen Thomas W Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunal system, told reporters. He said a total of 169 charges were sworn against suspects “alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks” in 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people.