WASHINGTON (Reuters, AFP) - Six men held for more than a decade at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were sent to Uruguay for resettlement on Sunday, the Pentagon said, the latest step in a slow-moving effort by the Obama administration to close the facility.

The men represented the largest single group to leave the internationally condemned US detention camp since 2009, leaving the facility with 136 detainees, the Pentagon said.

The four Syrians, a Tunisian and a Palestinian, were flown to South America aboard a US military plane. Among them was Syrian prisoner Jihad Diyab, who had staged a hunger strike and requested a US court to order prison officials to stop force-feeding him.

President Barack Obama took office nearly six years ago promising to shut the prison, citing its damage to America's image around the world. But he has been unable to do so, partly because of obstacles posed by the US Congress.