Article

2005-01-30 Arabia

Heavy gunfire erupted on Sunday in the Kuwaiti district of Salmiya, east of the capital, after police cordoned off an area in search of suspected Islamist militants, witnesses said. "The shooting began about 9.30 am (0630 GMT) after police sealed off a main street, the one with all the restaurants on it," one witness said told AFP, adding that special forces arrived on the scene to back up police.

An AFP photographer in the area said grenades and heavy gunfire could be heard as an apparent gunbattle raged on. The incident came two weeks after a shootout between militants and Kuwaiti security forces left one Saudi gunman dead in Umm al-Haiman, south of the capital near the border with Saudi Arabia. The gunbattle, near the largest US military base in Kuwait, came five days after another clash closer to Kuwait City left two security officers and a Kuwaiti suspect dead. The authorities have seized arms and explosives in subsequent raids around the tiny oil-rich emirate and, according to Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, arrested about 15 suspected Islamist militants. However, an unspecified number, including the group's spiritual leader, are still at large. Sheikh Nawaf acknowledged that the militants belonged to an "organised group", but the country's national guard chief, Sheikh Salem al-Ali al-Sabah, said some of the group were members of Al-Qaeda.

Posted by Dan Darling 2005-01-30 2:56:35 AM|| || Front Page|| [15 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Here's the epilogue from Rooters:

Kuwaiti security forces have raided a suspected militant hideout in the capital a day after officials and the United States issued warnings of more al Qaeda-linked violence in the Gulf state.

At least two police commandos were wounded in Sunday's raid which targeted two buildings in the capital's mainly residential Salmiya district, security sources said.

"We are searching for an armed group that is wanted by state security," a security official told Reuters.

Witnesses and security sources said police had cordoned off a block in Salmiya, where intermittent gunfire and small blasts could be heard.

"They (police) were shooting at these buildings with M16s and rocket-propelled grenades," one witness told Reuters. "The shooting is coming from various locations."

Several police cars cut off access to the block and a helicopter hovered overhead. State security officers, wearing flak jackets over their traditional Arab robes, milled about among the commandos. Ambulances were seen racing into the area.

Posted by Dan Darling 2005-01-30 3:45:53 AM|| [http://www.regnumcrucis.blogspot.com] 2005-01-30 3:45:53 AM|| Front Page Top

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