Three U.S. Marines were injured in an apparent accidental blast Thursday during exercises in Kuwait, a U.S. military spokesman said. None of the injuries was believed life threatening, said Lt. Chris Davis at the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.
"It seems to be an accident and we are investigating," Davis said.
Meanwhile, authorities continue to investigate the shooting incident that left one American soldier dead on Failaka, an island some 16 kms east of Kuwait City.
U.S. and Kuwaiti officials labeled Tuesday's attack terrorism. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network could not be ruled out.
Several Kuwaitis have been tied to bin Laden. Most notably, Al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who was stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship in October 2001, and Kuwaiti-born Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is suspected of being a Sept. 11 mastermind.
The Kuwaiti gunmen of Tuesday's attack — Anas al-Kandari, 21, and his 26-year-old cousin, Jassem al-Hajiri — had trained in Afghanistan and were angry about Israeli killings of Palestinians, a friend and relative said, according to AP.
Al-Kandari's brother, Abdullah, said Abu Ghaith was a distant cousin. Al-Kandari had "chosen to walk in the footsteps of Osama bin Laden," said Mohammed al-Awadi, a cleric who knew him.
Al-Kandari spent 18 months in Afghanistan, and his cousin al-Hajiri joined him there for six months, al-Awadi said. Both returned days before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the cleric said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
