US reviews Guantanamo Bay operations

US authorities will review the rules for handling and monitoring detainees at Guantanamo Bay following the suicides of three men there, military officials said as defence attorneys demanded their clients have full access to US courts.

US authorities will review the rules for handling and monitoring detainees at Guantanamo Bay following the suicides of three men there, military officials said as defence attorneys demanded their clients have full access to US courts.

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In Washington, attorneys for the detainees also said on Monday that the administration of US President George W Bush should allow independent medical experts into the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to examine prisoners.

"Guantanamo must be closed," added Gitanjali Gutierrez, attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents hundreds of Guantanamo detainees, including two of the three who committed suicide.

The military's internal review will be separate from a probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the deaths of the men who hanged themselves inside their cells before dawn on Saturday, Navy Lt. Cmdr Robert Durand said.

"We will be looking at what were the procedures and were these procedures followed," said Durand, a spokesman for the detention center. "And do the procedures need to be modified?"

At least one detainee was able to conceal himself from guards by hanging laundry from the ceiling in his cell, Durand said.