US warns of terrorist attacks in Kuwait; ‘Embassy has credible information

[Judi Lynn]

16th-17th Dec 2004 : Web Edition No: 12058 Editor-in-Chief: Ahmed Jarallah


US warns of terrorist attacks in Kuwait; ‘Embassy has credible information’


KUWAIT CITY (Agencies): The United States warned on Wednesday that “terrorist groups” were preparing to carry out attacks in Kuwait in the near future. The US embassy has “credible information that terrorist groups are developing near-term plans for attacks against unspecified targets in Kuwait,” the US embassy said in a warden message circulated to American nationals in the country. The message urged Americans to exercise caution, maintain a low profile and avoid areas where Westerners are known to congregate. It also told them to immediately report any suspicious activity to the Kuwaiti police or the embassy.

Some 12,000 American civilians live in Kuwait, where about 25,000 US troops are stationed. The soldiers are deployed at one major base in Arifjan, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Kuwait City, and several desert camps in the north and northwest of the country, near the border with Iraq. Kuwait is used as a transit point for US and other coalition troops coming in and out of Iraq. Europeans in Kuwait number 9,000, and there are also some 1,000 Australians living in the country. Kuwait boosted security measures around major Western embassies after the Dec 6 Jeddah attack, in which five non-American staff members were killed.

Kuwait has been a major ally of Washington since a US-led coalition fought the 1991 Gulf War that liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation. The small oil-rich state that depends on the United States for protection, was the launch pad for the war that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about two years. However, some fundamentalist militants have attacked American military personnel in recent years, killing one Marine and an American civilian contracted to the military.
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http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/kuwait/Viewdet.asp?ID=2910&cat=a