WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The government of new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has formally requested the release of five British residents from U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay.

In a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband asked for the release and the transfer to Britain of the five, who were all refugees or asylum-seekers who had lived legally there prior to their incarceration by the U.S. military.

An official at the British embassy in Washington authorized to speak to the media told United Press International that the request had been made "in the light of recent steps taken by the U.S. government" to empty the controversial prison by returning the remaining detainees to their own or other countries.

"That is going to take an international effort," said the British official. "It is right that we should play our part."

But he said the request was "limited to those who had links to the United Kingdom." The United States had previously released nine British citizens who were held at Guantanamo.