Two Tunisian and three Yemeni detainees have been transferred from the US-run prison at Guantanamo Bay to Kazakhstan, the Pentagon said.
The former Guantanamo inmates, who were flown on a US military aircraft, arrived in Kazakhstan yesterday at 11:15 pm Washington time (0415 GMT), US officials said.
Their transfer is part of President Barack Obama's push to close the controversial military prison, which was set up to detain terror suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"We are determined to responsibly reduce the detainee population and you can expect additional transfers over the coming weeks," an administration official told AFP.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the five men "were unanimously approved for transfer" after a thorough review by a task force of several US government agencies.
The transfer of the five detainees leaves 127 inmates at the prison, located at a US naval base in southeast Cuba.
The number of detainees transferred out of Guantanamo in 2014 is now at 28.
Details of what Kazakhstan had agreed to and what security steps the government might take related to the former detainees remained unclear.
The five inmates, who have never been tried in court and who were cleared for transfer by authorities in 2010 or even earlier, have spent more than 11 years at the Guantanamo prison, which human rights groups have condemned as a "legal black hole."
The facility is approaching its 13th anniversary, as the first detainees arrived on January 11, 2002.
Of the 127 inmates still held there, 59 are cleared to be transferred to their home countries or third countries.
With the release of the two Tunisian detainees, there is only one Tunisian national still held at the prison. At one point, there were 12 Tunisian inmates at the jail.
Yemeni detainees are the largest group at Guantanamo, with 80 inmates identified as Yemeni nationals, of which 50 are considered ready to be transferred. But US authorities have concerns over security given the volatile situation in Yemen.
The Pentagon identified the Tunisian nationals transferred yesterday as Adel Al-Hakeemy, and Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Lufti, also known as Lofti Bin Ali.
Authorities had approved the repatriation of Ali in 2006.
But a US federal judge in 2007 blocked his transfer, saying he would likely face torture and "irreparable harm" at the hands of Tunisian authorities.
