A large arms cache uncovered in a desert region of Kuwait belonged to a suspected terrorist cell that was plotting to carry out attacks on US military targets, a newspaper said Thursday.
Quoting a well-placed security official, Al-Qabas said members of the group, who were arrested last month, guided the security authorities to the arms, hidden in Ugailah, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Kuwait City.
The cache comprised a large quantity of various arms, including Russian-made anti-aircraft SAM-6 missiles, hundreds of hand grenades, mines, explosives, anti-tank shells and many boxes of various munitions, the interior ministry said Wednesday.
The security official said the cache was made up of arms stolen from Kuwaiti Army depots during the 1990 Iraqi invasion and weapons left behind by the retreating Iraqi troops in the 1991 Gulf War.
In November, the authorities announced the arrest of at least seven suspected members of a terrorist group, all Kuwaitis, but the Moroccan ringleader fled by using a fake Saudi passport.
The security forces are still hunting for other members who are believed to be at large in Kuwait.
The group was believed to be linked to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, but he denied the reports.
The US military has a 4,500-strong contingent in Kuwait that uses equipment stockpiled at Camp Doha, west of the capital, for joint maneuvers, and live firing practice.
US forces deployed in the emirate and Saudi Arabia were put on maximum alert after the October 12 bombing of the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 American sailors -- KUWAIT CITY (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
