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Medical Reinforcements Arrive At Guantanamo Bay


The front gate of the Camp Six detention facility at Guantanamo Bay (file photo)
The front gate of the Camp Six detention facility at Guantanamo Bay (file photo)
Additional medical staff have arrived at Guantanamo Bay to help deal with a spreading hunger strike among prisoners at the U.S. detention camp in Cuba.

A camp spokesman, Samuel House, said around 40 nurses and other specialists arrived over the weekend.

He said their arrival was planned several weeks ago as the number of prisoners on hunger strike kept growing.

He said there are now 100 out of 166 inmates on hunger strike and 21 are being force-fed through tubes.

Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay began their hunger strike in February to protest their indefinite detention.

Most are being held without charge.

The detention facility opened in 2002 to hold suspects captured in antiterrorism operations after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Based on reporting by AP and the BBC

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