Huge arms cache found in Kuwait

NICOSIA — Kuwaiti authorities have found what officials described as a huge arms cache in the emirate during an investigation of planned bombings of Western targets.

The Interior Ministry said security forces found large quantitites of weapons, missiles and explosives in a farm in southern Kuwait. Authorities said the source of the weapons was unknown.

The discovery came amid an investigation of a plot to bomb Western targets in Kuwait and around the Gulf, Middle East Newsline reported. Last month, Kuwait said it arrested five of its citizens on suspicion of participating in the plot. A sixth suspect has been extradited.

Kuwaiti authorities are also investigating any link between the plot and the Oct. 12 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden. U.S. representatives have been informed of the Kuwaiti investigation and Pentagon officials are negotiating with Arab countries on new security regulations to ensure the return of U.S. warships to ports in the region.

Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley said the United States is increasing military personnel to bolster security in Gulf ports. Quigley said the move was ordered by Defense Secretary William Cohen in response to a request by commanders in the area.

Yemen has pledged to prosecute up to six suspects next month in connection with the USS Cole bombing. Arab diplomatic sources said the charges were expected to be announced over the next few days. The trial, however, will be delayed until after the current Muslim fast month of Ramadan.

Six Yemenis are reported to have been arrested in connection with the attack on the USS Cole. They face execution if found guilty of such charges as threatening state security.

U.S. officials said Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden is believed to have sponsored the attack. But Yemeni officials said there is yet no evidence of this.

In an unrelated development, the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported on Thursday that Mauritania has arrested senior military officers on charges of seeking to undermine that Arab country's relations with Israel. Mauritania has been the only Arab country that has rejected Arab and Islamic pressure to sever relations with Israel amid the Palestinian mini-war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The newspaper reports that up to four senior officers have already been arrested after they criticized the government's ties with the Jewish state. Mauritania's Public Works Minister Rashid Ali Salah has confirmed the arrests but would not link them to his government's policy toward Israel.