Kuwaitis shoot at US troops

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.

The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry identified the Kuwaiti attackers as Anas al-Kandari, 21, and 26-year-old Jassem al-Hajiri.

The assailants approached in a pickup truck in civilian clothes, stopped and attacked with small-arms fire, Pentagon officials said in Washington. They apparently then drove to another site, stopping and firing again before being killed by Marines who returned fire.

Marines later found three AK-47 rifles and ammunition inside the vehicle, according to a statement released in Washington by the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet. The injured Marine, it said, was hit in the arm.

Some 31 civilians were taken into custody as possible material witnesses and were being questioned by Kuwaiti authorities, it said.

The Interior Ministry condemned the attack in its statement identifying the two men as Kuwaitis.

“The Ministry announces that this is a terrorist act,” it said.

“It will not allow anyone to undermine the country’s security.”

Kuwaiti Defence Ministry spokesman Brigadier Ahmed al-Rahmani would say only that the shooting occurred on Failaka Island off the coast.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, a spokesman for the US Central Command in Florida, said the Marines left the island shortly after the attack as a safety precaution. He said he didn’t know if the exercise would resume.

Failaka Island, 10 miles east of Kuwait City, was abandoned by its inhabitants when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Iraqi forces heavily mined it during their occupation.

After Kuwait was liberated in the 1991 Gulf war, the government compensated island residents for their property and resettled them on the mainland. The island since has been cleared of mines and many Kuwaitis fish there on weekends. Some old residents visit occasionally.

The shooting attack was unprecedented in Kuwait, a major Washington ally since the Gulf War.

More than a decade later, most Kuwaitis remain supportive of the close relationship.

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said both Marines were taken to the Armed Forces Hospital in Kuwait City, where one of them died of his wounds. Their names were withheld until relatives could be contacted.

Investigations were under way but Lt Col Dave Lapan, another Pentagon spokesman, said the Marines were involved in urban assault training when they came under small-arms fire, apparently by civilians.

Another US defence official in Washington said the assailants apparently shot the two Marines at one site, drove to another location and started firing on other Marines. There, the official said, they were apparently hit by return fire.

The military exercise, dubbed Eager Mace 2002, involves Kuwaitis at some stages. However, Lapan said the attack happened during an exercise that involved only US troops.

The war games started October 1 after the amphibious transport ships USS Denver and USS Mount Vernon arrived in Kuwaiti waters and started unloading 1,000 Marines and their equipment. The men and women are from the 11th Marine Expeditionary unit based in Camp Pendleton, California. The vessels’ 900 sailors were also participating in the manoeuvres.

The US military has carried out exercises in Kuwait since the Gulf war ended, part of a defence agreement the small oil-rich state signed with Washington. The Pentagon has said Eager Mace 2002 was routine and not related to any possible war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Kuwait depends on Washington for protection. The US Army propositions weapons at Camp Doha, a base along the Gulf coast about 12 miles west of Kuwait City.

The US force uses two Kuwaiti bases to patrol the southern no-fly zone over Iraq, which was set up after the war to protect Iraqi Shiites who rose up against Saddam.