New York trial for alleged 9/11 planner

Washington: Five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, will be sent for prosecution to a criminal court in New York from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said on Friday.

The five were being prosecuted in US military commissions at Guantanamo, but the Obama administration has pledged to close the controversial prison and to move some of the cases to traditional US criminal courts for trial.

The move marks one of the first major steps by President Barack Obama's administration to close the prison, which he has pledged to do by January 22, 2010. However, Obama and his team have faced numerous political and diplomatic hurdles and some officials privately admit it may be hard to meet the deadline.

There are 215 detainees at the detention camp which was set up in early 2002 by the George W. Bush administration to house terrorism suspects.

The trials in New York will likely provoke some strong reactions, particularly since it was the site of the 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Centre's twin towers and killed nearly 3,000 people.