U.S. transfers more prisoners to Afghan custody

KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military has handed over another group of suspected Taliban fighters to Afghan custody under a program to transfer all Afghan prisoners from U.S. military detention.

The 28 prisoners, captured since U.S.-led forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001, join a previously transferred batch of Taliban in a refurbished block of Pul-i-Charkhi prison on the eastern edge of Kabul, the Afghan government said on Monday.

Taliban prisoners have staged at least two revolts in Pul-i-Charkhi and several have managed to escape. Last month, an Afghan soldier stationed at the prison shot dead two U.S. soldiers in an incident that has not been fully explained.

The 28 prisoners were handed over north of Kabul on Sunday at Bagram air base, a hub for U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, the defence ministry said. The second transfer of its kind, it followed repeated requests by the Afghan government.

The ministry gave no figure for the total number of Afghan prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan and at the controversial Guantanamo Bay jail in Cuba.

Scores, including senior Taliban figures, are believed to be held by the U.S. military both in Afghanistan and Guantanamo.

Some Guantanamo prisoners were expected to be moved to Pul-i-Charkhi last month, but the ministry said they had not yet been transferred.

Transferred inmates are set to be tried by a joint Afghan commission, ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said. Those who were acquitted would be freed.

Human rights groups have criticized the U.S. government for holding suspected Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners indefinitely and without trial. Guantanamo holds about 380 captives. Another 395 have been released or transferred to other governments since the camp opened in January 2002. Many complain of being persecuted.