Gunmen kill US marine in Kuwait
A second marine was injured. The assailants were shot and killed by US forces. The marines were involved in a live-fire exercise when they came under small arms fire, apparently by civilians, said Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Lapan.
He said one marine died during surgery at the Camp Doha Armed Forces Hospital. More than 1,000 marines and sailors are taking part in the exercise, dubbed Eager Mace 2002, with the Kuwaiti military. Though the exercise Eager Mace involves joint US-Kuwait training, the attack happened while marines were doing urban assault training that involved only US forces, Lapan said.
The assailants arrived at the area in a pick-up truck, which Kuwaiti authorities have impounded, Lapan said.
A Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Dan Hetlage, confirmed the attackers had been killed after the Pentagon earlier said they had been captured.
The shooting occurred on Failaka Island off Kuwait’s coast, Kuwaiti Ministry of Defence spokesman Brigadier Ahmed al-Rahmani said. The normally uninhabited island is about 10 miles east of Kuwait City and about 30 miles south of the southernmost tip of Iraq.
Washington has said the games are routine and not related to any possible war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Kuwait has said it opposed any unilateral military action against Iraq. However, it has said it will allow US forces to use its land for an attack if the war is sanctioned by the United Nations. Muslim fundamentalists are politically strong in Kuwait, and though they despise Saddam, they distrust President George Bush’s motives for waging war on Iraq.
