WASHINGTON, May 20: 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 on Friday.
Officials at the detention center described Thursday night’s clash as the most intense outbreak of violence at the jail for foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since it opened in January 2002.
Six prisoners were treated for “minor injuries” and none of the U.S. guards was seriously hurt, the officials said.
The 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, the officials said. The fighting lasted four to five minutes, they said, and the detainees at one point were winning the fight.
The officials said the clash involved 10 inmates and 10 guards. Earlier in the day, 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.—Reuters
