Pentagon says three men accused of plotting 9/11 reach plea deal

Three of the men accused of plotting the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US have entered into a pre-trial agreement, the Department of Defense says.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for years without going to trial.

Details of the deal have not been announced, but US news outlets say the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty. Nearly 3,000 people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania were killed in the attacks, which sparked the “War on Terror” and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.  They were the deadliest assault on US soil since the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, where 2,400 people were killed. The plea deal was first announced in a letter sent by prosecutors to the families of victims, according to The New York Times. It said the plea before a military court could come as early as next week.