WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden's administration slashed the prisoner population at Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba by nearly half on Monday (Jan 6), sending 11 detainees to Oman.

The US military said only 15 detainees remained there after the transfer, following a major push towards closing the facility by Biden's administration in its final days in office.

The detention centre was first opened on Jan 11, 2002 by President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the US "War on Terror" following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Guantanamo Bay housed roughly 680 prisoners at the detention centre's peak in 2003, according to Pentagon data.

The latest transfer of the 11 men, all of whom are from Yemen, leaves the US naval base in Cuba with fewer detainees than when it opened with the arrival of prisoners from Afghanistan.

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