Inmates at the US "war on terror" detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba tried to prevent US forces from helping one of four detainees who tried to commit suicide, a spokesman said. One inmate tried to hang himself and three others took overdoses on Thursday.
All four were being treated and their lives were not in danger, said Commander Robert Durand, a spokesman for Joint Task Force (JTF) Guantanamo, which runs the controversial camp in Cuba.
Durand said in a statement that JTF guards had responded to a disturbance in a medium-security part of the camp late Thursday. "A detainee in Camp 4 was preparing to hang himself," he said.
He added that when the guard force entered the compound to intervene, some inmates "attempted to prevent them from rescuing the detainee by using fans, light fixtures and other items as improvised weapons. Minimum force was used to quell the disturbance and prevent the suicide."
The statement also said that, earlier in the day, "three detainees ingested prescription medications that apparently had been hoarded for this purpose."
JTF Guantanamo did not identify the inmates nor give reasons for the suicide attempts, which came on the day the United States announced that 15 Saudi inmates had been transferred back to their country.
According to lawyers who have visited the camp, there is widespread depression among the approximately 460 inmates, most of whom have been held for more than four years without charge.
The camp was opened in early 2002 to house "enemy combatants" caught in Afghanistan and other hotspots after the "war on terror" was declared in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
According to camp authorities, there have been 41 suicide attempts by 23 different prisoners since the facility was opened on the US naval base in an isolated corner of Cuba.
JTF Guantanamo said there have now been six suicide attempts this year.
