RIYADH, 23 January 2003 — The American missions in the Kingdom and other Gulf states urged US citizens yesterday to step up their security awareness because of the continued risk of terrorist attacks.
The warning, which came a day after at least one gunman in neighboring Kuwait killed an American military contractor and seriously wounded another, called on Americans to vary their movements about town and personal routines.
“US citizens and interests remain at increased risk of terrorist attacks by groups with links to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organization,” said a new warden’s message distributed to all Americans resident in the Kingdom.
“As security around US official facilities has increased, terrorists are seeking softer, less secure targets. These may include individual Americans as well as locations where numbers of American citizens are located, such as housing compounds,” the message warned.
A majority of some 40,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia live in private housing compounds, most of which have round-the-clock security.
The message, posted on the US embassy website, also advised Americans that “suspicious individuals and vehicles should be reported immediately to local police officials.”
Michael Rene Pouliot, 46, a civilian contractor working for the US military, was killed when his vehicle was peppered with automatic rifle fire on a road near Camp Doha, the main US Army base in Kuwait.
Another US contractor, David Caraway, was wounded and was being treated in hospital in Kuwait City.
Kuwaiti police and US military investigators were hunting yesterday for the culprits behind the ambush.
“No arrest has been made yet and the investigation is still going on,” an Interior Ministry official said.
The US Embassy in Kuwait condemned the shooting as a terrorist attack.
It was the third time since October that Americans have been killed or injured in attacks in Kuwait.
“The embassy reminds all American citizens in Kuwait to be alert to their surroundings and continually assess their security, to include varying the times and routes of their movements,” said an advisory issued after the attack.
Kuwait’s Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah said a link to Iraq or Al-Qaeda could not be ruled out.
Kuwaiti police said one or more attackers had opened fire from trees and bushes at the side of the road on Tuesday morning before escaping. Kuwaiti sources said authorities had rounded up between 60 to 70 people for questioning.
“We now have some important clues, some progress is being made,” a security source said on condition of anonymity.
Newspapers meanwhile said that an unspecified number of Arabs who have spent time in Afghanistan had been rounded up in connection with the highway ambush.
Al-Watan daily said a large number of Kuwaitis who returned from Afghanistan last year, or Kuwaitis known to be extremists “with hostile stands against US forces,” were summoned for interrogation, either as suspects or for information about the assailants.
Two prime suspects as well as three witnesses were in the custody of state security, Al-Watan said. The son of a Kuwaiti who was killed in Afghanistan was also summoned along with a well-known scholar, Al-Watan added. (Agencies)
