Five British citizens and one Dane held at the US Guantanamo Bay prison camp without trial for two years are to be sent home.
About 660 are held at the camp on Cuba, set up in January 2002 to house what the United States terms "illegal combatants" captured in Afghanistan or people with alleged links to al-Qaeda.
"Five of the British detainees will return to the United Kingdom," British Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw told reporters yesterday evening. "These men will be flown home to the UK in the next few weeks."
He would make no predictions about the likelihood of them facing trial. The anti-terrorist branch of the police said only that it would consider the case of each man individually.
Denmark announced earlier yesterday it had reached agreement with Washington for the return of one of its nationals. Last week a Spanish citizen held at Guantanamo Bay was returned to Spain for prosecution.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said Britain had not given guarantees about how the five would be handled.
Under British law it could be difficult to try the suspects since evidence obtained while they were held without access to lawyers would generally not be admissible in court.