(AP) – Medical reinforcements have arrived at Guantanamo Bay to help deal with a hunger strike among prisoners at the U.S. base in Cuba.
Lt. Col. Samuel House said Monday that the roughly 40 nurses and other specialists arrived over the weekend. They are U.S. Navy personnel. He says their arrival was planned several weeks ago as the number of prisoners joining the hunger strike kept growing.
Prisoners began the hunger strike in February to protest conditions and their indefinite confinement.
The number of striking prisoners has not risen since Saturday, when 100 of the 166 inmates had joined.
House says 21 have been receiving liquid nutrients through a nasal tube to prevent dangerous weight loss. Five prisoners are being observed in a base hospital.
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