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Triple suicide at Guantanamo camp
Three detainees at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have died in what appears to have been a joint suicide pact, officials said.
The inmates - two Saudis and a Yemeni - hanged themselves in their cells, according to the camp's commander.
Rear Adm Harry Harris said the suicides had been clearly a planned event and were not spontaneous.
The US holds about 460 men at the facility on suspicion of links to al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.
They are the first deaths reported at the detention centre.
The men were found unresponsive and not breathing by guards, who noticed "something out of the ordinary" in the cells.
They hanged themselves with clothing and bed sheets, Rear Adm Harris said.
"The guard force and medical teams reacted quickly to attempt to save the detainee's life," he said, referring to the first suicide to be found.
It is not first time detainees have attempted to commit suicide since the camp was set up four years ago.
Forty-one attempts have been made by 25 prisoners since then.
'Warfare'
Rear Adm Harris said he did not believe the men had killed themselves out of despair.
"They are smart. They are creative, they are committed," he said, quoted by Reuters.
"They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of ...warfare waged against us."
Some detainees have been involved in on and off hunger strikes since last August to protest at their continued detention and conditions, although according to authorities the number dropped to 18 last weekend from a high of 131.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5068228.stm
Rear Adm Harry Harris said the suicides had been clearly a planned event and were not spontaneous.
The US holds about 460 men at the facility on suspicion of links to al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.
They are the first deaths reported at the detention centre.
The men were found unresponsive and not breathing by guards, who noticed "something out of the ordinary" in the cells.
They hanged themselves with clothing and bed sheets, Rear Adm Harris said.
"The guard force and medical teams reacted quickly to attempt to save the detainee's life," he said, referring to the first suicide to be found.
It is not first time detainees have attempted to commit suicide since the camp was set up four years ago.
Forty-one attempts have been made by 25 prisoners since then.
'Warfare'
Rear Adm Harris said he did not believe the men had killed themselves out of despair.
"They are smart. They are creative, they are committed," he said, quoted by Reuters.
"They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of ...warfare waged against us."
Some detainees have been involved in on and off hunger strikes since last August to protest at their continued detention and conditions, although according to authorities the number dropped to 18 last weekend from a high of 131.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5068228.stm
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The US Southern Command said in a statement: "Two Saudis and one Yemeni, each located in Camp 1, were found unresponsive and not breathing in their cells by guards."
The military said attempts to resuscitate the detainees failed and they were pronounced dead on Saturday by a physician at Guantanamo, which holds just under 500 foreigners captured mainly in the US war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Facing indefinite detention with none of the rights afforded formal prisoners of war, or criminal suspects in the US justice system, dozens of the detainees have undertaken hunger strikes.
Several have also attempted suicide while at least one fake suicide attempt was staged recently to trick prison guards into going into a cell where detainees intended to ambush them.
The names of the deceased - the first deaths at Guantanamo since it started being used as a prison camp in 2002 - were not released.
The US military said the bodies were being treated "with the utmost respect." An investigation had begun, it said.
The US has faced criticism from human rights groups and some of its allies for indefinitely holding prisoners at Guantanamo. George Bush, the US president, has said he would like to close the detention centre.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9E61764-5D30-491D-BAE5-EB88CDA201E8.htm