ABU DHABI Ñ Kuwait officials announced the capture of the terror cell responsible for the shootings last week of U.S. Marines and said the group had plotted a series of additional attacks on U.S. interests including the embassy.
Officials said the Islamic cell of 15 contained eight Al Qaida members and was headed by Anas Al Kandari, one of the two gunmen
killed by U.S. Marines last week. They said the group had planned to launch at least five attacks on
Americans in the sheikdom.
The shooting incidents which killed one U.S. Marine has caused strains in U.S.-Kuwaiti ties during the ongoing Eager Mace-2002 exercises, Middle East Newsline reported.
The attackers were trained in Afghanistan and had links
with Al Qaida, officials said. They said an e-mail message from Al Qaida was
found on the computer of Kandari.
Authorities have rounded up more than 60 suspects in wake of Tuesday's
shooting attack on U.S. marines. Most of the suspects have been released.
"The interior minister said there was a videotape that is part of the
investigation in which they [detainees] confessed that they owe allegiance
to [Osama] Bin Laden," parliamentarian Khaled Al Adwa, who emerged from
meetings
with senior Kuwaiti ministers, said.
The insurgency cell was believed to have planned attacks against a
series of U.S. interests. They included the U.S. embassy and unspecified
military compounds in Kuwait.
Kuwaiti Interior Minister Mohammed Khaled Al Sabah told a news
conference on Saturday that 15 Kuwaitis had confessed to the attack on the
marines. Khaled later confirmed that the suspects confessed to working with
Al Qaida.
Arab diplomatic sources said the United States has been angered by the
failure of Kuwaiti authorities to foil the attack of the Al Qaida cell or
provide security
to the Failaka island during the exercise. In response, the sources said,
Kuwait has quietly complained that U.S. Central Command has not involved the
sheikdom in any of the planning of the current Eager Mace-2002 exercise.
For his part, Khaled expressed regret over the failure of U.S.
coordination with the sheikdom's security forces. He said Central Command
refused to allow Kuwaiti security forces to enter Failaka for four hours
after the shooting attack. Khaled confirmed that an FBI
delegation is scheduled to arrive in the sheikdom on Sunday to investigate
the attack on the marines. But the minister said Kuwait would not allow the
delegation to interrogate suspects being held in detention.
A team from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was due in Kuwait
Saturday or Sunday to follow up on investigations into the attack, said
Sheikh Mohammad, who doubted they would interrogate the 15 suspects.
"The constitution does not allow us to hand them over," the Kuwaiti
interior minister said.
