<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile Ñ Kuwait on high alert after intelligence warns of plot against airlines

Kuwait on high alert after intelligence warns of plot against airlines

Wednesday, March 4, 2009   E-Mail this story   Free Headline Alerts

ABU DHABI Ñ Kuwait has been ordered on high alert after threats of an Al Qaida attack on passenger aircraft, officials said.

The officials said the Interior Ministry has declared high state of alert in wake of warnings from the intelligence community of an Al Qaida strike.

They said authorities have received information of an insurgency plot against flights by the state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines to and from Kuwait.

"We have been coordinating efforts with our Saudi brethren to deal with this threat," an official said.

Officials said the threat alert also warned of an Al Qaida strike on the Saudi embassy in Kuwait City. They said the Interior Ministry has ordered reinforcements of police and security forces at both the Saudi embassy and Kuwait International Airport.

Kuwait, which hosts about 15,000 U.S. troops, was said to have become a target of both Al Qaida and Iranian intelligence.

Officials said Al Qaida has sought to use Kuwait as a base for operations around the Gulf and Afghanistan, while Iran increased intelligence operations in the Gulf Cooperation Council sheikdom over the last two years.

In February 2009, Kuwait captured an Al Qaida recruiter based in Iran. The recruiter was said to have been a former Kuwaiti military officer who sent GCC nationals to join Al Qaida and Taliban in Afghanistan. The detainee was also said to have identified Al Qaida operatives in several GCC states.

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