Guantanamo hunger strike up to 89

A total of 89 detainees were now refusing food, military spokesman Navy Cmdr Robert Durand said. Six of the hunger strikers were being force-fed.

Inmates have been involved in an on-off hunger strike since last August to protest at their continued detention and conditions.

On Monday, the US said the number involved had risen sharply to 75.

Cmdr Durand said all those involved were being "closely monitored" by medical staff and counselled on the health effects of long-term hunger striking.

The number of detainees involved has fluctuated since the protest began last year.

According to the US military, a peak of 131 detainees were on hunger strike last autumn, but this dropped to three earlier this year.

May incident

However, the number increased suddenly at the weekend.

Cmdr Durand said on Monday that the current protest could be designed to coincide with a series of military commission hearings scheduled in June.

It could also be related to an incident on 18 May when two detainees tried to commit suicide and several others clashed with guards, he said.

But Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union said the protest could be a call for help by the detainees.

"It may well be their attempt to ensure that the world is reminded of their unlawful detention," he told the Associated Press news agency.

Rights groups have voiced concerns that the US has force-fed the strikers.

About 460 prisoners remain at the camp. Some have been held for nearly four years without charge.

In May, the UN Committee against Torture called on the US to close Guantanamo and any other secret "war on terror" detention facilities abroad.