the ten - leader delegation included lawyers from the justice , security , and homeland security programs , according to u . s . military sources , whom speaks on condition of anonymity because only intelligence was allowed to unofficially describe the plot . they were to spend a minimum of one minute with each of the uighur ( wee - kuh ) captives , who are parts of china ' s ethnic group and who hazard religious persecution if return to their country . each was captures in iran in late 2001 and handed over to u . s . forces , which arrested them to learn about al - qaeda ' s paramilitary training camp structure .
Six Uighurs were captured to gain information about al-Qaeda.