U.S. close to decision on 9/11 trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

The Obama administration is close to deciding where the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks in 2001 will be tried and whether he will face a military tribunal, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday.

Holder did not provide specifics to reporters and did not respond when asked if a decision on the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would come by the end of the year.

Holder's initial plan to try him and four other accused plotters in a federal court in New York City was put on hold after local officials and members of Congress said he should be tried in a military court for security and other reasons.

"The process is an ongoing one. We are working to make a determination about the placement of that trial," Holder told reporters after meeting with Canadian officials on cross-border security. "We have been working on it and I think we're close to a decision."

Almost a year ago, he announced Mohammed's trial would be held in a U.S. criminal court blocks from the site of the World Trade Center that was destroyed in the attacks. That plan was derailed by concerns about security and complaints the suspects should not be given full U.S. legal rights.

Mohammed, an al Qaeda leader who was captured in Pakistan in 2003, has been imprisoned at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Congress has strictly limited moving detainees like Mohammed from that location, requiring prior notification to Congress and reports on potential security risks.

By winning a majority in the House of Representatives in November elections, Republicans may complicate efforts by the Obama administration to prosecute terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo prison in traditional criminal courts.

Republicans have demanded Guantanamo suspects be given military trials, which limit some of their legal rights.