A US soldier keeps watch from a guard tower (Associated Press)
The use of female troops inside the highest-security unit at Guantanamo Bay is sparking protests by prisoners.
Prisoners designated as "high-value" detainees are refusing to meet with their lawyers unless the military agrees to use only male guards to move them around the US base in Cuba.
The prisoners are devout Muslims. Their beliefs prohibit physical contact with women who aren't relatives. Lawyers say the military recently resumed using women to escort high-value prisoners, a practice it halted in 2007.
A Marine Corps lawyer says accused terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed refused to meet with counsel on Thursday. Maj. Derek Poteet says the protest will prevent efforts to prepare his defense to charges stemming from the Sept. 11 attack. The military says it won't agree to use only male guards.