The US says the shooting of two of its citizens in Kuwait was a terrorist attack.

Two American soldiers were seriously wounded by a gunman who fired on them as they travelled along a road south of Kuwait city today.

A US marine taking part in war games was shot and killed yesterday

Two Kuwaitis shot at US Marines during war games on an island off the Gulf state today, killing one and wounding another in what the Kuwaiti government called a terrorist act. Fellow Marines shot dead the assailants.

Core US military command staff responsible for operations in the Gulf and Central Asia will be shifted from their Florida headquarters to Qatar in November – suggesting further preparations by the Pentagon for a possible military assault on Iraq.

The US army recently moved weaponry and war supplies from Qatar to a base near the Iraqi border in Kuwait to check their condition and test procedures that would be used in the event President Bush orders preparations for war.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will arrive in London tomorrow for discussions on the next step in the global war against terror.