US describes intense fight with Guantanamo inmates

WASHINGTON - Ten Guantanamo prisoners lured US guards into a room with a staged suicide attempt, then attacked them with broken light fixtures, fan blades and other improvised weapons before being overpowered, US officials said today.

US officials at the detention centre described yesterday's clash as the most intense outbreak of violence at the jail for foreign terrorism suspects at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since it opened in January 2002.

Six prisoners were treated for "minor injuries" and none of the US guards was seriously hurt, the officials said.

"The detainees had slickened the floor of their block with faeces, urine and soapy water in an attempt to trick the guards. They then assaulted the guards with broken light fixtures, fan blades and bits of metal," said Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris, who commands the detention operation.

US guards used pepper spray and then blasted the inmates with several shots from a shotgun that fired rubber balls to gain control of the inmates and used an M203 grenade launcher that shot a blunt rubber object, US officials said. The fighting lasted four to five minutes, they said, and the detainees at one point were winning the fight.

US officials said the clash involved 10 inmates and 10 US guards. Earlier in the day, US officials said two other detainees attempted suicide by swallowing pills, and that those two men were unconscious but in stable condition.

The clash took place in Camp Four, a medium-security facility with communal living arrangements, Harris said.

"Detainees at Camp Four have the most privileges and are assigned to the camp when they have demonstrated continuous compliance with camp rules. However, we consider it to be the most dangerous camp because detainees have the opportunity to plan and act out in groups," Harris said in a telephone briefing from Guantanamo.

Harris said US guards had been conducting drug searches ordered after suicide attempts earlier in the day when they saw an inmate at Camp Four apparently preparing to hang himself. Harris said this was actually "a ruse" to get the guards to enter the compound in order to attack them.

"We trained for the possibility that a suicide attempt may be used by the detainees to create an opportunity to conduct an assault, take a hostage or kill the guard. In fact, that was exactly what was going on last night," Harris said.

Human rights activists decry the indefinite detention of Guantanamo detainees and accuse the United States of torture. The Pentagon insists detainees are treated humanely and not tortured, and says many dangerous al Qaeda and Taleban figures are held there.

The Pentagon said "approximately 460 detainees" remain at Guantanamo. Officials said no detainee has ever died there.

- REUTERS