Kuwait hunts down terror suspects after gunfight
2 policemen, suspected militant die in shootout

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Kuwait was hunting on Tuesday for suspected Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants after a deadly gunfight with security forces that triggered a new U.S. terror warning. The U.S. Embassy said that the gunman that police killed Monday was a terrorist that Americans had been warned about, adding that U.S. citizens should stay vigilant because more terrorists remain at large. 

The gunman, Fawwaz Tlaiq al-Otaibi, died of his wounds after a shootout with police in a suburb of Kuwait City. Two policemen were also killed in the gun battle, which came hours after the U.S. Embassy had posted an urgent message on its Web site warning of an "individual or individuals moving about Kuwait in a black-colored small sedan [who] intend to randomly attack Westerners." On Tuesday, the embassy's Web site said the "terrorist" shot dead in the shootout was one of those referred to in the warning, and added: "At least one suspected terrorist, known to be armed and dangerous, remains at large." The "two terrorists involved in the shooting may have been part of a larger group," the Web site said. "U.S. citizens should exercise caution, maintain a low profile, and remain aware of their surroundings."

Kuwait's interior minister, Sheik Nawwaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah, said Tuesday none of the others involved in the gun battle had been arrested. He declined to tell reporters anything about Otaibi's motives or affiliation until the police had finished their investigation. However, two lawmakers who discussed the incident with the minister in a parliamentary committee, Nasser al-Saneh and Mohammed al-Saqr, said afterward it was a "terrorist" matter. The incident came about 10 days after Kuwait upgraded its domestic security measures, deploying armed military and police vehicles at street junctions and outside hotels, embassies and oil facilities. In its statements on Monday's gun battle, the Interior Ministry did not say what Otaibi was wanted for. It said two other policeman were wounded and admitted to hospital. The interior minister has said that Kuwait has received many security threats recently, but he did not disclose their source.

Two members of Kuwait's armed forces are to face court-martial for planning to attack coalition forces in the country. A former senior minister warned that "sleeping cells" of extremist groups existed in the country's security agencies. "Extremist groups here are like fire under ashes. There are sleeping cells ... in the security and military agencies of this country," Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah, a former information and oil minister, was quoted as saying in Al-Siyassah newspaper. "We have warned of this for years and we will uncover more of these cells in the future," said the minister, who is also a senior member of the ruling Al-Sabah family. Monday's shootout began when police tried to arrest Otaibi as he returned a car to a car-rental shop.

 Otaibi opened fire on the police and fled in a waiting car, one of whose occupants shot at police. Later Otaibi was arrested and died of his wounds. The U.S. Embassy had warned Americans late last year of possible attacks against them. Kuwait signed a security pact with Washington after the 1991 U.S.-led coalition liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation. The country was the launch pad for the invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein's dictatorship almost two years ago.Some fundamentalist Muslims do not approve of the American military presence in Kuwait. Extremists have attacked U.S. citizens in a series of small scale incidents since 2002, killing one U.S. Marine and one U.S. civilian contractor. - AP, AFP