The Pentagon on Sunday released the names of three Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide a day earlier.

They are Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi and Yassar Talal Al-Zahrani, both Saudis, and Ali Abdullah Ahmed, who is believed to be a Yemeni, said the Pentagon in a statement.

The Saudi government has identified the two dead Saudis earlier.

The Miami-based U.S. Southern Command announced Saturday that the three detainees were found dead in their separate cells earlier that day after hanging themselves with clothing and bedsheets, without disclosing their names.

The incident is the first of its kind since Washington opened the detention facility in its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January 2002.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Saturday that U.S. President George W. Bush expressed "serious concern" on learning about the incident.

The Pentagon said in May that it had, at various times, detained 759 prisoners in Guantanamo since the prison opened four and a half years ago.

The prisoners are all males, ranging from teenagers to older than 70, from more than 40 countries.

At present, about 460 prisoners are still being held there while others have been transferred to other places or released.

Only 10 prisoners have been charged by the military tribunals, and no verdicts have been issued so far.

Facing indefinite detention with none of the rights afforded formal prisoners of war, or criminal suspects in the U.S. justice system, dozens of the detainees have undertaken hunger strikes and 23 inmates have attempted suicide a total of 41 times.

U.S. media said the death of the three prisoners will put more pressure on the Bush administration to close the detention facility, as has been urged by the international community and even Washington's allies.

Source: Xinhua