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bankir
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23.03.2003 05:23:38
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Прочее; Современность;
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Да простят меня админы....
21:04 22Mar2003 RTRS-UPDATE 3-Grenade attack wounds 13 U.S. troops in Kuwait
(New with broadcast reports of soldier being questioned, official U.S. military statement, 13 wounded)
KUWAIT, March 23 (Reuters) - Thirteen American soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack at a military camp in Kuwait on Saturday, the U.S. military said, and broadcast reports said another U.S. soldier was being questioned about the incident.
U.S. Central Command, which is running the war on Iraq, said in a statement that one or more unknown assailants had "attacked elements of the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait" early on Sunday local time.
"The area has been secured and an investigation is under way to determine the circumstances of the attack," it added.
Charles Clover, a correspondent for the London Financial Times who is with the 101st Airborne Division, said a soldier was being questioned about the attack. He told CNN by telephone that journalists with the division were restricted in what they could report of the incident.
MSNBC, Fox News and CBS and other broadcasters carried similar reports.
A spokesman for the 101st said two grenades had been thrown into a command tent at Camp Pennsylvania, one of the desert bases from where U.S. forces have launched an invasion to try to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Col. Chris Holden, head of a battalion of the 101st Airborne Division at nearby Camp New York, said he had stepped up patrols around his unit after the attack.
"When you have someone inside your camp who is dedicated to throwing a grenade inside a tent, there isn't much you can do," Holden told Reuters.
WOUNDED SOLDIERS EVACUATED
Central Command said the wounded had been evacuated to a field hospital.
Initial media reports spoke of a possible "terrorist attack."
Thousands of U.S. troops have been based in Kuwait since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. They have been targeted several times in recent months by militants whom Kuwaiti authorities say may have links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Last November, a Kuwaiti policeman shot and seriously wounded two U.S. soldiers on a highway south of Kuwait City and the previous month two Kuwaitis attacked American Marines training on an island, killing one.
In January, a gunman ambushed two civilian contractors working for the U.S. military in Kuwait, killing one and wounding the other.
Kuwait is a key U.S. ally and its government is publicly grateful to Washington for leading the 1991 war that drove out occupying Iraqi troops from the oil-rich country.
But there have been concerns of rising anti-American sentiment in the country.
Last week, the U.S. embassy in Kuwait told American civilians in the country to leave immediately, advice taken up by several other embassies. Diplomats said the warnings were prompted by fears that Muslim militants angered by the war with Iraq could target Westerners in Kuwait.
((Reporting by William Maclean and Kieran Murray, writing by Andrew Marshall; Iraq Desk, Gulf Newsroom +971 4 391 0186, fax 391 8335))
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Saturday, 22 March 2003 21:04:46
RTRS [nL22219988] {EN}
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