**The US has said it is temporarily suspending the transfer of prisoners to Yemen from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.**The move comes after it emerged the Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb a US plane on 25 December was allegedly trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen.
More than 80 Yemeni men are to be moved from Guantanamo, as the US tries to shut down the camp.
Officials fear many could re-join militant groups if sent back to Yemen.
“While we remain committed to closing the facility, the determination has been made that right now, any additional transfers to Yemen are not a good idea,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
It was alleged last week that the Christmas Day airliner bomb plot was planned by two men released by the US from Guantanamo Bay in November 2007.
Mohammed Atiq al-Harbi, also known as Mohammed al-Awfi, and Said Ali al-Shihri were sent home to Saudi Arabia, where they were admitted to an “art therapy rehabilitation programme” and later set free, US and Saudi officials said.
Yemenis account for almost half of the nearly 200 detainees who remain at the US military base.
US President Barack Obama has pledged to shut the controversial detention centre in 2010, and announced last month that many of the detainees would be sent to a prison in the US state of Illinois.
Some will face trials in US criminal or military courts, while others are expected to be transferred abroad.
But Mr Obama has come under pressure to halt transfers to Yemen since investigators said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been trained in the country to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit.