WASHINGTON—The U.S. has lost track of many former Guantanamo detainees who had been sent home to the Middle East and North Africa, a sign that unrest in the region is disrupting critical terror-fighting relationships America has built up since the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. officials say.
The flow of information from Libya, Yemen and other governments in the region about the whereabouts and activities of the former Guantanamo detainees, along with other Islamists released from local prisons, has slowed or even stopped, the officials say. U.S. officials say they fear that former detainees will re-join al Qaeda and other Islamist groups.