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| Iraq |
| Kuwaitis return Iraq fire at border |
| 2003-03-20 |
| Kuwaiti forces have been involved in clashes with Iraqi troops on the border between the two countries. "Our units in the north have been shot at by small arms fire, 50-calibre (weaponry), then mortar fire," Brigadier General Abdul Rahman Mohammed al-Othman said. He said Kuwaiti soldiers "returned fire". He refused to say how long the skirmishes had been going on for but confirmed they were "still going on". Welcome to the dance. The air raid sirens in Kuwait unnerved an already shaken country that experienced a series of attacks launched only hours after the United States fired its first salvos on Iraq. Kuwait's main highways and roads were virtually deserted as most residents diligently followed defence ministry instructions to stay indoors and monitor events closely. In the initial wave of strikes, two missiles with a 99-kilometre range fell into the Mutlaa desert a ministry statement broadcast on Kuwait television and radio said. Each missile carried conventional warheads. About two hours later the Ministry announced three more missiles had hit Kuwait, one of them intercepted over the western Kuwait Bay, close to the capital. The sirens sounded again and the Ministry said a sixth missile had arrived. It remains unclear whether all the missiles were scuds but none landed in the city and all are said to have carried conventional warheads. One was shot down by a Patriot missile. There were no reports of injuries from the initial missile strikes which hit north of the town of Jahra. "It looks like a Chinese-made surface-to-surface missile, probably fired from (Iraq's) al-Faw peninsula," a Kuwaiti defence official said. "It seems they were trying to hit the American camp at Doha but missed," he added referring to a large US-run military facility north of Kuwait City. Fox is reporting a US cruise missile malfunctioned and crashed near a Kuwait oil facility. No major damage. |
| Posted by:Steve |