An unidentified person drove a truck into a group of American soldiers at the U.S. base at Udairi in Kuwait, injuring at least 15 people. Shooting was heard and an ambulance called in, it added.
The attacker drove a small white Nissan pickup truck during the incident, which occurred at around noon, said Lt. Col. Larry Cox, the public affairs officer at the base.
Camp Udairi is primarily a V Corps aviation base that is also used for maintenance and supply.
At a news briefing in Doha, Qatar, Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. war commander, had no further details about the attack but noted it was substantially different from a suicide car bomb attack that killed four American soldiers in Iraq on Saturday.
"It was obvious that the modus of the second attack was not at all like the first attack (a suicide car bombing)," he told reporters Sunday.
U.S. Central Command confirmed an incident at Camp Udairi involving a vehicle that injured several soldiers but said none were killed.
Earlier, a worker in the camp told Reuters he had heard unverified reports that five U.S. soldiers had been injured in the attack, adding that the alleged attacker and an accomplice had been wounded by gunfire from U.S. troops and taken away in an ambulance.
Franks also rejected reports that there was a pause in the drive of U.S.-led forces towards Baghdad, and maintained that the war was on track.
Some U.S. troops said Sunday they had been told a pause in land advances from the south towards Baghdad could be extended by several weeks because of over-stretched supply lines and stiff Iraqi resistance.
Addressing the news conference, Franks dismissed suggestions of a pause in fighting: "It is simply not the case." "Reporting that is coming from inside Iraq... would reflect that combat operations are continuing. They're continuing in the north, they're continuing in the west, they're continuing right around Baghdad." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
