U.S. Won't Return Guantanamo Bay to Improve Ties With Cuba

The long-stalled effort to close the prison on the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has reached a milestone.

    

Ten prisoners from Yemen have been released and sent to the Middle Eastern nation of Oman for resettlement. That puts the prison population below 100 for the first time since it opened in January 2002.

    

U.S. officials say the releases announced Thursday by the Pentagon reflect progress toward President Barack Obama's goal of closing the prison.

    

State Department special envoy Lee Wolosky thanked Oman for taking the 10 prisoners who could not be sent back to a country embroiled in civil war.

    

He said the U.S. expects to release the remainder of nearly 40 cleared Guantanamo prisoners by this summer.

    

Guantanamo at its peak in 2003 held nearly 680 prisoners. (AP)