U.S. hands Pakistan senior militant detained in Afghanistan

(Reuters) - The United States has handed to Pakistan three prisoners including a senior Taliban militant held in Afghanistan, as Washington rushes to empty its Afghan prison before losing the legal right to detain people there at the end of the year.

U.S. forces captured Latif Mehsud, the former number two commander in Pakistan's faction of the Taliban, in October 2013, in an operation that angered then Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

Mehsud, a Pakistani, and his two guards were secretly flown toPakistan, two senior Pakistani security officials told Reuters. The U.S. military confirmed it transferred three prisoners to Pakistan's custody on Saturday, but would not reveal their identities.

"TTP senior commander Latif Mehsud who was arrested was handed over to Pakistani authorities along with his guards," one Pakistani security official said. "They reached Islamabad."

The transfers coincide with a visit by outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Afghanistan.

They also follow a spate of U.S. drone strikes against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, and al Qaeda. On Saturday, the Pakistani military killed an al Qaeda commander accused of plotting to bomb the New York subway.

The TTP is separate but allied to the Afghan Taliban. Both work alongside al Qaeda.   More