Two U.S. soldiers wounded in Kuwait

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/WORLD/meast/11/21/kuwait.soldiers.shot/story.kuwait.jpg
A man walks by the entrance to the military hospital where two attacked U.S. soldiers were treated.


Two U.S. soldiers wounded in Kuwait
Thursday, November 21, 2002 Posted: 11:08 AM EST (1608 GMT)

KUWAIT CITY (CNN) -- Two U.S. soldiers in Kuwait are in serious but stable condition after being shot and seriously wounded by a policeman Thursday morning, the U.S. military said.

The assailant is a junior level Kuwaiti policeman who fled to Saudi Arabia, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior said. Kuwaiti and Saudi officials are working to get the man back to Kuwait.

Sources told CNN it's still unclear whether the incident was an individual act or linked to terrorism. No shots were returned toward the assailant.

The shooting took place around 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. EST) as the U.S. soldiers were traveling between Camp Doha and Arifjan, the spokesman said.

The Interior Ministry said the two soldiers were shot after their car was pulled over by the policeman.

The gunman shot one of the soldiers in the face and the other in the shoulder. Their injuries are not considered life-threatening, the spokesman said, adding that they were able to drive themselves to the town of Oraifijan, where they were flown by military aircraft to a military hospital in Kuwait City.

After the two soldiers were shot, the attacker returned home, got some money, and fled across the border to Saudi Arabia, Pentagon sources told CNN.

Apparently U.S. soldiers in the area do not wear military uniforms when they are traveling off-base in order to maintain a low profile, the spokesman said.

Their names are not being released, U.S. military sources said. U.S. and Kuwaiti authorities are investigating the shooting.

There are currently about 10,000 U.S. troops in Kuwait, according to the Pentagon. Troops are in Kuwait conducting regularly scheduled military exercises dubbed Operation Desert Spring at a time when the U.S. has been threatening military action against nearby Iraq if they fail to abide by post-Persian Gulf War resolutions calling on them to destroy any weapons of mass destruction. Baghdad has repeatedly said it does not possess such weapons.

The shooting is the latest in a string of violent attacks and threats against U.S. soldiers stationed in Kuwait and comes on the same day as a U.S. missionary was shot and killed in Lebanon. (Full story)

On October 8, two Kuwaiti gunmen suspected of having ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network carried out an attack against U.S. troops on Failaka Island, killing one Marine and injuring another.

U.S. military police chased down the two assailants, who were dressed in civilian clothes and driving a pickup, and shot them dead, according to U.S. officials.

The day of the attack a taped message surfaced purporting to be from bin Laden's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, vowing new attacks on Americans. On November 12, the Qatar-based, Arabic language TV network Al-Jazeera broadcast an audiotape later identified to be the voice of bin Laden referring to the killing of a U.S. Marine in Kuwait.

Following the October attack, there were two more shootings involving U.S. troops in Kuwait, but no one was injured.

I hope this is not an harbinger of things to come.

21 Nov 2002 11:56
Kuwait police involved in U.S. shooting -diplomats


KUWAIT, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Kuwaiti police were involved in a shooting of two U.S. soldiers on Thursday that seriously wounded both men, Western diplomatic sources said.

"The details of the incident are not clear but it seems the shooting involved Kuwaiti police," one Western diplomat told Reuters.

A U.S. military spokesman said he had no information on this. He said one soldier had been shot in the face and the other in the shoulder. They were flown to hospital in Kuwait City.

The spokesman said the soldiers had been shot around 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) while travelling on a highway between the Camp Doha military base on the northern outskirts of Kuwait City and Arifjan, 35 miles (55 km) to the south.

Some 10,000 U.S. troops are in Kuwait for the Operation Desert Spring training exercise.

Last month two Kuwaitis attacked U.S. Marines training on a Kuwaiti island, killing one and wounding another. Shots have also been fired at U.S. soldiers training in the desert, although some Kuwaiti officials blame bird hunters.

The incidents coincide with mounting tension over a possible U.S.-led war in neighbouring Iraq -- likely to feature U.S. troops based in Kuwait -- if Iraq does not satisfy Washington's demand that it prove itself free of weapons of mass destruction.

One soldier was shot in the face and the other in the shoulder. They both are in intensive care.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia Hunt Gunman Who Shot US Soldiers
VOA News
22 Nov 2002, 06:06 UTC


Kuwaiti officials say they are working with Saudi officials to find and return a junior Kuwaiti policeman who fled to Saudi Arabia after shooting two U.S. soldiers.

The policeman, described as a junior officer, shot and wounded the soldiers Thursday on a highway outside Kuwait City, possibly after stopping the Americans for speeding in their unmarked vehicle. One victim was shot in the face, and the other was hit in the shoulder. They were airlifted to a Kuwaiti military hospital, where they are expected to recover.

Kuwaiti authorities do not know of a motive for the shooting, but say the gunman has a history of mental illness. Authorities say they do not believe the incident is related to terrorism.

Kuwait's defense minister (Sheikh Jaber al-Hamad al-Sabah) condemned the shooting. He said the incident would not harm the emirate's strong ties with the United States.

Ten-thousand U.S. troops are involved in training exercises in Kuwait, and a large portion of the country has been sealed off for security reasons.

U.S. and Kuwaiti officials have down-played a series of shooting incidents in Kuwait in the past two months, even as anti-American sentiment has increased in much of the Persian Gulf region.

Several incidents have been blamed on hunters. However, on October 8th, two Islamic militants attacked U.S. Marines training on a Kuwaiti island, killing one soldier and wounding another. The attackers were shot dead by U.S. troops.

U.S. forces have maintained a presence in Kuwait since the 1991 Gulf War.