DNA samples taken from detainees

Handful of detainees continue hunger strike

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (CNN) -- DNA samples have been taken from all 300 Afghan war detainees at the U.S. naval base here, U.S. officials disclosed Sunday, as a small group of prisoners continued a hunger strike they began last week.

VIDEO FBI Director Robert Mueller visited Camp X-ray, where U.S. investigators have taken DNA samples from all 300 detainees. CNN's Bob Franken reports (March 4) 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.

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

Meanwhile, only 13 detainees have consistently refused food since Wednesday, according to officials. Nine prisoners have been given liquids intravenously to combat dehydration.

FBI Director Robert Mueller made a three-hour visit Sunday described by a bureau spokesman as an effort to "touch base" with investigators and military officials at Camp X-Ray, where the detainees are being held. The visit was not prompted by the hunger strike.

Officials said that on average a group of 75-80 detainees have participated in the strike on a rotating basis and the refusals to eat varied by meal.

At its peak, nearly 200 detainees participated in the hunger strike, 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.

The detainees have since been allowed to wear turbans, but they will be checked periodically, according to the Pentagon.

-- CNN Correspondent Bob Franken and Producer Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.