WASHINGTON: An Al-Qaida suspect accused in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Africa was transferred from Guantanamo Bay yesterday for prosecution in a New York court, the Justice Department said.

Ahmed Ghailani will become the first Guantanamo detainee to go on trial in a civilian US court. He was to make an appearance in federal court in Manhattan later in the day, the department said in a statement.

Ghailani, a Tanzanian who had been held at the US naval base in Cuba since September 2006, arrived in New York early yesterday under escort from the US Marshals Service.