"Frankly we were losing the fight at that point," Bumgarner said.

Outside, Guantanamo officials mustered 100 more guards before the quick reaction force gained control using pepper spray, unspecified "physical force," five blasts of a shotgun that fires rubber pellets and one shot from a non-lethal weapon that Bumgarner said fires a sponge-like projectile.

Detainees in two other units of Camp Four began damaging security cameras, light fixtures and other items in their rooms in a show of support for those engaged in the melee. Guantanamo officials estimated the total damage at $110,000.

Six detainees had minor injuries and no guards were injured, Harris said. The prisoners involved in the melee were moved to a higher security area.

"I believe that this was probably the most violent outbreak here," Harris said.

President Bush has said he would like to close Guantanamo, but is waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on whether inmates can face military tribunals. And, regarding the UN report, the U.S. government insisted it complies with the world ban against torture, including at the lockup at Guantanamo on Cuba. "It is important to note that everything that is done in terms of questioning detainees is fully within the boundaries of American law," White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

The United States expressed disappointment with the committee report, which was based on two sessions this month with a 25-member delegation of officials from Washington and hundreds of pages of U.S. documents.

"It's unfortunate that they don't appear to have read a good deal of that information or have ignored it, and as a result there are a number of both factual inaccuracies and legal misstatements about the law applicable to the United States," said State Department legal adviser John B. Bellinger III.

On Thursday, the military transferred 15 Saudi detainees to their country, but Harris said he did not think there was a connection. Authorities did not provide the names or home countries of those involved in the attack or attempted suicides.

The U.N. committee also said detainees should not be handed over to any country where they could face a "real risk" of being tortured.

Bellinger, who led the U.S. delegation at the panel hearings, said it was not "practical" to recommend that Guantanamo be closed but insist that prisoners should not be sent to a large number of countries. "So it's not exactly clear what they think ought to happen to these individuals," he said.

Guantanamo has had a number of protests and more minor disturbances since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002.

The U.S. military said 23 detainees carried out a coordinated effort to hang or strangle themselves in 2003 during a weeklong protest. A hunger strike that began in August has involved up to 131 detainees, the military said, though the figure has dwindled to just a handful. Earlier this year, Guantanamo officials began strapping striking detainees into a restraint chair to force feed them.

Guantanamo officials said there have been 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees and no deaths since the camp opened. Defense lawyers contend the figure is higher.

Clive Stafford Smith, an attorney, said a client of his from Chad had attempted suicide twice in January and he did not learn about it until March from another detainee. Before Thursday, the military said there had only been one attempt in 2006.

At least 12 suicide attempts were by Juma'a Mohammed al-Dossary, a 32-year-old from Bahrain.

Colangelo-Bryan, who represents al-Dossary and spoke to The Associated Press by telephone, said he visited his client last week and saw scars on his throat and the back of his neck from his most recent suicide attempt in March. The attorney, whose firm Dorsey and Whitney LLP of Minneapolis, Minn., represents three detainees from Bahrain, said he did not know if any of his clients were involved in Thursday's melee.