GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 24 (UPI) -- The number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay on hunger strike increased to 92 this week, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.
Army Lt. Col. Samuel House said 17 of the 92 hunger strikers are currently being force fed, The Miami Herald reported. He said two are in the hospital at Guantanamo but are not in danger of death.
House said there were originally 43 inmates in the strike, but the number jumped after the camp was locked down April 13, with 84 by Monday.
Lawyers for some of the detainees have accused the camp of covering up the extent of the strike, saying 130 of the 166 detainees have been starving themselves for two months. The military says investigators had a better count after the lockdown of who was on strike, and some inmates joined the strike because of anger at being confined to their cells.
The military said force feedings are carried out twice a day. Inmates are chained to a chair by Army guards, tubes are inserted through their noses by Navy medical workers and they are fed a can of nutritional supplement.
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