Detainee population swells at Guantanamo

U.S. troops patrol Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For the fifth time in just over a week, the U.S. military Sunday transported al Qaeda and Taliban detainees to the U.S. detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Military officials operating the camp said 34 detainees -- who had been held in Afghanistan by U.S. forces -- were brought under tight security to newly constructed cells at Guantanamo.

The total number of prisoners at the site, known as Camp Delta, stands at 536. The detention facility was expanded at the end of May to handle 612 detainees, leaving 76 cells empty and ready to fill.

U.S. Central Command officials said about 100 detainees remain imprisoned by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military began bringing detainees from Afghanistan to Cuba in January, and housed them at a temporary facility called Camp X-Ray. Camp Delta was first occupied on April 28.

Those held are suspected terrorists or are suspected of supporting the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that was ousted as part of a U.S. anti-terrorist push after the September 11 attacks.