Terror suspects surrender
2005-02-19 17:30
Kuwait City - Two main suspects wanted in connection to a terror group that planned to attack Americans and Kuwaiti security were arrested on Saturday, an interior ministry official said.
The men surrendered to police without any exchange of fire at Al-Andalus, a suburb southwest of Kuwait City, the official said on condition of anonymity. He would not provide their names but he said they were Kuwaiti.
The Interior Ministry official said the suspects were not Khaled al-Dossari or Mohsen al-Fadhli, who had been named before as wanted men.
Since January 10, Kuwait has been locked in an unprecedented battle against Muslim extremists who authorities said were planning to attack American civilians living in Kuwait and members of the US military serving here or on their way to Iraq. Kuwait's state security apparatus was also a target, according to authorities.
Four policemen and eight suspected terrorists were killed in clashes around the country last month. On February 5, five wanted men surrendered to police in Sulaibiyah, west of the capital, but they were later released.
The alleged ringleader of the group, Amer al-Enezi, died of a heart attack while in custody. He was arrested on January 31 in the largest shootout, in the Mubarak Al Kabir area.
The group did not carry out any of its alleged plans. In one of their safe houses, near the border with Saudi Arabia, authorities found chemicals that could be used to make bombs and handwritten instructions for making them.
Some 40 suspects, including the wife of the ringleader, were referred to prosecutors for interrogation. It is still not known if they will stand trial.
The alleged 24-member terror group included Jordanians, Saudis, Kuwaitis and stateless Arabs who have lived in this oil-rich state for decades without becoming citizens. The interior minister said they received funds from Saudis, and they embraced the ideology of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror group, which is responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
This year's clashes have shocked Kuwaitis by bringing the fight against terror to their streets and for the first time, spilling Kuwaiti blood.
Kuwait has been a US-ally since the 1991 Gulf War that liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation. However, militant extremists who oppose the American military presence in their country have attacked Americans killing since 2002 one Marine and a civilian contracted to the military.
Kuwait's Islamic movements have condemned the clashes between police and militants, and offered to assist the government in its fight against extremism. But Westernised liberals say Islamists are afraid of losing political ground and accuse them of spreading a culture of intolerance and hate for the west that pushed young men to take up arms.
The government has decided to clamp down on extremism in mosques, to reform school textbooks to reflect moderation, and launch a national anti-terror media campaign.
- AP