The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it has been in touch with US officials over reports that foreign terrorism suspects at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay have begun a hunger strike.
ICRC spokesman Florian Westphal said ICRC officials were to make a previously scheduled regular visit to the naval base in eastern Cuba , which holds some 505 prisoners, in "about a week".
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents some of the detainees held at Guantanamo, said on Wednesday some prisoners had begun a new hunger strike to protest against their conditions of detention.
ICRC officials conduct lengthy prison visits at the facility every two to three months, but return in between so as to speed exchanges of messages to and from detainees and their families.
ICRC findings and their recommendations to detaining authorities remain confidential in keeping with its tradition of neutrality during armed conflicts.
Human rights groups and United Nations experts have expressed concern that the detainees - accused of having links to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or the al Qaeda network - have been held for years without charges being laid.