WASHINGTON: Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be sent from Guantanamo Bay to New York for trial in a civilian court, reports say. Citing unnamed government officials, the reports said he would be transferred from the US prison camp in Cuba with four other suspects.

US Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the decision later, the officials say. Mohammed has admitted planning the 9/11 attacks, the US military says.

The five men have until now been facing prosecution at US military commissions in Guantanamo.

But US President Barack Obama has made closing the detention camp a top priority. His administration says it will try some detainees in US courts and repatriate or resettle others who are not perceived as a threat.

However, questions remain over the fate of those assessed as dangerous but who for legal reasons could not be prosecuted in a US court - prompting suggestions that the 22 January closure deadline will slip.

According to the reports, Holder will also announce that a suspect in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen will be tried at a military tribunal.