75 prisoners on hunger strike in Guantanomo Bay

Washington, May 30 (UNI) Seventy-five prisoners at the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay are on a hunger strike, US military officials said.

A military spokesman for the base, Navy Commander Robert Durand, said the hunger strike is an attempt to gain media attention and pressure the United States to release about 460 men held there as enemy combatants.

He said it may also be related to the May 18 clashes between the detainees and military guards.

Some of the detainees have been on a hunger strike since August.

In past months, the military has force-fed hunger strikers but earlier this month, lawyers for a detainee filed a complaint saying the force-feeding method amounts to torture.

More than 400 prisoners are being held at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taleban.

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