Pentagon releases first Guantanamo names list

The US government has released the most extensive list yet of the hundreds of detainees who have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison – nearly all labelled enemy combatants, but only a handful of whom have faced formal charges.

In all, 558 people were named in the list provided by the Pentagon yesterday in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit by The Associated Press. They were among the first swept up in the US global war on terrorism for suspected links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.