KUWAIT, Nov 2: Kuwaiti authorities sealed off about one-third of the country bordering Iraq on Saturday to ensure the security of military exercises being carried out by US-led troops.
But the small Gulf Arab state said the decision to cordon off swathes of northern and western Kuwait was not linked to apparent US preparations for a possible war in Iraq.
“This is an area for exercises...and the ban will be lifted when the war games end,” Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Hamad al-Sabah told Reuters when asked if there was any link to U.S. plans for an attack on Iraq.
Sheikh Jaber did not say when the authorities would reopen the sealed-off areas, which foreign troops have used for training since 1991.
“The ban takes effect today (Saturday),” defence ministry spokesman Brigadier-General Ahmad al-Rahmani said. “We have control points, patrols, searches inside the area to make sure all inside have permits to be there.”
Campers, bird hunters and all civilians not directly linked to farms or oil and gas production sites will be barred.
Rahmani said the closure was aimed at guaranteeing “the security of the troops and the safety of civilians”.
The United States has been pouring weapons and equipment into Kuwait and other countries in the region for several months in what are seen as preparations for a possible invasion of Baghdad.
Western defence sources said the buildup meant US equipment stocks on the ground had been increased to the level needed for a division of 20,000 troops from just a few brigades.
In recent weeks, the U.S. military also placed several rush orders on the local market for supplies and infrastructure work, including building tent cities and helicopter pads after news that additional U.S. Apache ground attack helicopters would be deployed in Kuwait, contractors said.
Washington says it has not taken a decision to attack Iraq and that the increased presence and activity in Kuwait is part of an intensified training plan.
The United States has about 10,000 troops in Kuwait, including ground forces training in the desert, and German and Czech anti-chemical warfare units are also there.
The British and US air forces have warplanes operating out of Kuwaiti bases to enforce a no-fly zone over southern Iraq.
FOURTH ATTACK: US forces training in Kuwait were caught up in another shooting on Friday, the fourth such incident in less than a month, according to a spokesman at Camp Doha, base to most of the troops.
“Shots were fired in the vicinity of the area where the soldiers are located in the south,” the spokesman said.
The incident occurred in Orayfijan, some 60kms south of Kuwait City.
The soldiers saw “two white pick-up trucks. They were sure the two trucks fired the shots, which were fired in the vicinity of the soldiers”, the spokesman said, adding that fire was not returned.
The soldiers were engaged “in support of training going on for Operation Desert Spring”, an ongoing joint exercise with Kuwaiti forces, the spokesperson said.
The incident is being investigated by Kuwaiti security authorities, the spokesman added.
A US marine was killed and another injured on Oct 8 when attacked by two Kuwaitis while conducting wargames on Failaka island, 20kms east of Kuwait City.
A day later, US forces opened fire on a vehicle whose occupants “drew a weapon and pointed it at” US troops in a Humvee all-terrain vehicle who were heading to their training area north of Kuwait City.
Five days later, the US embassy here said shots were fired from two unidentified civilian sports utility vehicles at US military units near a northern Kuwait training area.—Reuters / AFP