"Terrorist" attack on US marines in Kuwait was by an al-Qaeda cell

09/10/2002| IslamWeb

The two Kuwaitis who killed one US marine and wounded another in a "terrorist" attack belonged to an al-Qaeda cell operating in the Gulf emirate, newspapers reported."The Voice of Bin Laden Has Awakened Sleeping Cells!" read the front-page headline of Al-Watan daily.

The start of joint wargames between Kuwaiti and US forces, codenamed Eager Mace 2002, was "fatal" and the result of "an attack by an al-Qaeda cell in Kuwait," the paper said.

Al-Watan said the two Kuwaitis, named by the interior ministry as Anas Ahmad Ibrahim al-Kandari, 21, and Jassem Hamad Mubarak al-Hajeri, 26, decided to act after hearing calls by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to carry out this "suicide operation".

Armed with AK-47 assault rifles, the two men killed one marine and wounded another before being killed themselves in Tuesday's attack.

Al-Watan added that the two men had rented the pick-up truck used in the attack from a Bangladeshi living on Failaka island and that they had hidden in a mosque on the island before carrying out the attack.

Al-Rai Al-Aam, leading with the headline "Terror in Failaka", said: "In a highly secured atmosphere, Kuwait yesterday slipped after waking up to a terror operation."

The operation was conducted in a "martyrdom-style" attack by two Kuwaitis "whom security sources described as having contacts with al-Qaeda," it said.

The two assailants had also frequently prayed at the same Rumaithiya mosque, south of Kuwait City, where al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith had led Friday prayers, Al-Rai Al-Aam said.

The paper said Hajeri was a former oil ministry employee who had fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia.

Kandari meanwhile had asked his mother to "pray for him to become a martyr" two days before the attack, the daily added, quoting his family, which said they "considered him a martyr."

The daily quoted First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah as affirming that Kuwaiti authorities "will track down all those who stand behind the attack on the American soldiers in Failaka."

Kandari, according to his brothers, was so affected by "the massacres" in the Palestinian territories by Israeli forces that he pledged to "also slaughter Americans like they are slaughtering us," Al-Rai Al-Aam said.

Al-Qabas meanwhile said the two assailants belonged to "an extreme Islamic group very close to al-Qaeda."

All of those who returned from Afghanistan after September 11 have been recalled by Kuwaiti authorities for questioning, Al-Qabas reported.

Kuwait's interior ministry confirmed Tuesday that the two assailants were Kuwaiti nationals and labeled the incident a "terrorist" act.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Marines came under small arms fire Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002, during war games in Kuwait. One Marine was killed and a second was wounded. The two attackers were killed by U.S. forces, the Pentagon said. (AP Graphic)