Scores of detainees are on hunger strike at the Guantanamo US "war on terror" detention camp, lawyers for the detainees and US military authorities said.

Lawyers for the inmates said at least 210 men had been on hunger strike for the last three weeks. However, officials at Guantanamo said there were 76, but refused to say when the hunger strike started.

"Since January 2002, the (Defense Department) has denied prisoners access to the courts or legal counsel in an effort to avoid justifying the basis for the detentions. This policy has driven detainees to strike until they die or are afforded a fair hearing and humane treatment," said attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez, of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents some of the prisoners.

A spokeswoman for Joint Task Force at Guantanamo said, "They're 76. The numbers change every day." She did not say when the strike began.

"They are treated to the best of our ability."

There are about 505 detainees at the detention camp on the US naval base in Cuba.

On July 21, 52 prisoners launched a hunger strike at Guantanamo, apparently in protest at their detention, refusing nine consecutive meals.

Prisoners who refused food were treated with intravenous drips, and oral rehydration solutions including Gatorade energy drinks, water and oral nutritional supplements.

The US military admitted to the hunger strike a day after one of two Afghan men released from the camp after three years said after arriving back in Kabul that 105 prisoners had just staged a hunger strike.

© Copyright 2005 Agence France Presse

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