Hunger strike continues at Camp X-Ray

FBI considering plan to extract DNA from detainees

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (CNN) -- Slightly less than one-third of the Afghan war detainees held at a U.S. military base in Cuba refused breakfast Saturday, part of a hunger strike that began on a smaller scale Wednesday.

The hunger strike, which has involved a varying number of detainees over the past few days, began as a protest over the treatment of one prisoner whose turban was taken.

A U.S. military official said some of the detainees now seem interested in media coverage of their situation.

Officials at Camp X-Ray, the prison camp set up at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, forced six hunger striking detainees to take intravenous liquids after determining the men were growing dangerously dehydrated.

Eighty-five of the 300 inmates refused breakfast Saturday; 75 did not eat lunch and dinner Friday; 194 detainees refused lunch Thursday. A handful of prisoners began the hunger strike Wednesday.

In another development, government sources told CNN the FBI is considering a plan to extract DNA samples from detainees in Afghanistan and Cuba to create a databank to help authorities track terrorism suspects.

The sources, confirming a story reported Saturday on The New York Times Web site, said the proposal is being reviewed by the Justice Department.

U.S. officials at Guantanamo have suggested that such a move would be helpful, but they had no comment Saturday on the report.

Military officials have complained that many detainees change their stories each time they are interviewed.

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)   EXTRA INFORMATION Photo gallery: Images from Camp X-Ray What the Geneva Conventions say Map: U.S. Naval station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba

If each detainee could be identified through his DNA sample, officials said, it would help them determine who's who and whether they were telling the same story.

The hunger strike was provoked by an incident Tuesday in which guards ordered an inmate to remove a turban he had fashioned from a sheet in violation of a camp rule to prevent detainees from concealing contraband.

The guards apparently were unaware the inmate was praying. When he didn't respond, they burst into the cell and interrupted his prayers.

Muslims are supposed to devote their full attention to their five daily prayers.

Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of the facility, rescinded the camp rule Thursday and said the detainees could wear turbans. The turbans, however, would be checked periodically, according to the Pentagon.

Lehnert said Saturday other motivations for the hunger strike were media coverage and the detainees' situation.

Some detainees have apparently asked whether the strike was being reported on CNN, he said. Others were frustrated about their indefinite detention and over not knowing whether they will face charges, he said.

U.S. officials called the turban incident "unfortunate."

Another 216 detainees are in U.S. custody in Afghanistan.

-- CNN correspondents Bob Franken and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.