Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba ? Dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees have abandoned a hunger strike, lowering the number of inmates refusing food to 18, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The strike had jumped from three participants in late May to 89 Thursday. It was the biggest hunger strike of the year at the U.S. prison in Cuba, where about 460 men are being held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

“It appears that right after that peak (of 89) then people started resuming eating again,” Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand said from the base.

He said four of the 18 hunger strikers were being force-fed.