KUWAIT, Feb 1: Kuwait's parliament passed a law on Tuesday giving police wide powers to search for and seize illegal weapons to tackle a wave of Al Qaeda-linked violence.
Kuwaiti security forces on Monday killed five Al Qaeda militants and captured three, including a suspected leader, in the fourth clash with militants bent on destabilizing the oil-rich US ally.
"Parliament unanimously passed this law on weapons collection, which is valid for two years," lawmaker Abdullah al Roumi said. The law was rushed through, cutting short normal procedures, after militant attacks last month.
Police later questioned eight prominent politicians who had sought a permit to set up a new political party despite an official ban on such groups, a security source said.
The men, co-founders of the Umma party which wants to make Kuwaiti society more Islamic and remove foreign troops from the Gulf region, were questioned for several hours and released after promising to answer more questions if required.
Parliament said in a statement after a security debate that it backed the crackdown on extremists "until the complete eradication of this tyrannical faction and uprooting it from existence".
Kuwait passed a similar law in 1992 to deal with a jump in gun ownership after the 1990-1 Iraqi occupation. Lawmakers refused to extend that law in 1994, saying possession of weapons was a right.
The new law makes it easier for police to obtain a warrant to search a private house for illegal weapons - at present, they can get a warrant only after extensive investigations. The law also allows women inspectors to search women's quarters in private homes, off limits to men because of Islamic rules.
SECURITY STEPPED UP: Kuwait, which has one-tenth of global oil reserves, has stepped up security around oil installations after militants tried to launch an attack near its largest oil refinery and a US military camp in southern Kuwait last month.
Last week, the US and British embassies warned there could be more attacks in Kuwait, which rounded up Al Qaeda militants after two officials and two gunmen were killed in clashes.
Kuwait has cracked down on religious hard liners opposed to the presence of some 30,000 US troops. Security sources say Kuwaitis linked to militants in Iraq and Saudi Arabia are behind the violence.
A security source said a leading suspect in the latest violence died of wounds suffered in Monday's clash. Fayez al Rashidi, 25, was one of three militants wounded in the gunbattle and his death brought to five the number of gunmen killed. A bystander also died.
The source said Rashidi's brother Faisal died in the Iraqi city of Fallujah while fighting US-led forces last year. An Internet statement vowed on Tuesday that militants would "continue the jihad until Judgment Day".
"There will be a great war and many innocent victims," it said. "We demand the expulsion from Kuwait of infidel American and other occupying forces who are here because of you."
The authenticity of the statement could not be verified. Asked about the statement, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad al Sabah told reporters in parliament: "Let them say what they want - we will pursue the terrorists everywhere."
He said it was too early to declare victory over the militants. "We should not say it's over ... we must consider the worst possibilities in order to combat them." Two more suspects are at large. One is Khaled al Dosari, a Kuwaiti sought earlier for links to a network said to have recruited youths to fight foreign troops in Iraq. -Reuters