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Thousands Held by U.S.-Led Forces
Friday, December 21, 2001
(11:58 GMT)
The BBC

Screening the prisoners is a long process.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

There has also been concern expressed about detainees dying in overcrowded conditions while being taken to prison.

Some 7,000 Taleban and al-Qaeda members are now being held prisoner by American-led forces, a US official said on Friday.

Kenton Keith, spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said the prisoners were being screened to see which were hardliners "with blood on their hands."

Not all prisoners are terrorists, the US says.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

Mr Keith told reporters in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, that the search for more Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters was still going on and the numbers of prisoners could rise.

He added that the US had no credible information that al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden or Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had left Afghanistan.
(More: BBC.com News Source)
2001 © British Broadcasting Corporation.

Dan