Two detainee hunger strikers fed intravenously

A detainee is returned to his cell at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (CNN) -- Two of the detainees who embarked on a hunger strike at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were forced to take intravenous liquids overnight after prison officials determined they were getting dangerously dehydrated.

The IV's were administered at the Camp X-Ray infirmary.

One is still on an IV in the infirmary and continues to refuse to eat and the other has been returned to his cell, where he broke his fast and ate breakfast Friday morning.

Fewer al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at the base, Cuba, however, are taking part in the hunger strike, U.S. authorities said.

VIDEO CNN's Bob Franken reports the number of detainees on hunger strike at Camp X-Ray has dropped (March 1) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Seventy-three of the 300 detainees Friday morning refused to eat breakfast, according to authorities. The number is down from the 88 who declined their meals Thursday night and way down from the 194 who refused to eat at noon Thursday.

The hunger strike was in response to what U.S. officials called an "unfortunate" incident involving a detainee who was praying.

The incident happened Tuesday when the man fashioned a turban out of a sheet, violating a camp rule aimed at preventing detainees from concealing contraband. The guards' response sparked a hunger strike, which began Wednesday.

Thursday, Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of the facility, said the detainees will now be allowed to wear turbans.

Officials said they were watching the situation closely, and would not allow the detainees to starve themselves. They said detainees would be hooked up intravenous tubes if necessary to prevent them from starving.

After the detainee donned his makeshift turban Tuesday, guards at the facility told him to remove it, but he did not respond, officials said.

Apparently unaware the man was praying, and therefore not listening to them, the guards then burst into the detainee's cell and interrupted his prayers.

Strict Muslim law dictates that followers devote their full attention to their five-times-a-day prayers.

Lehnert, who was not at the base when the incident occurred, arrived Thursday afternoon. In addition to reversing the camp rule about turbans, he also spoke to the guards about having more "religious sensitivity."