KUWAIT CITY, 13 December 2003 — Kuwaiti authorities seized two booby-trapped letters addressed to journalists yesterday, a day after a small explosive device in a letter sent to a Kuwaiti editor detonated, an official said.
“The letters containing explosive material came from the same source in Lebanon which sent the letter to the editor of Al-Siyassa” on Thursday, Communications Ministry Undersecretary Hamed Khaja told the official KUNA news agency.
One was addressed to a journalist for Al-Siyassa and the other to a colleague with the daily Al-Qabas, said Khaja, whose ministry discovered the letters after stepping up checks of incoming mail.
A small explosive device in a letter addressed to Al-Siyassa’s Editor in Chief Ahmed Al-Jarallah detonated Thursday as his secretary was opening it, causing him slight injuries, the editor said.
Jarallah, who owns the Al-Siyassa and its sister English-language Arab Times, said the device was contained in a letter addressed to him and sent from Beirut.
On opening it, the device blew up in Waleed Dahdooh’s face. The secretary was treated for minor injuries to the face and hand, said Jarallah, who was out of the country when the letter was opened.
“It exploded and a white substance filled up the whole office,” Jarallah said by telephone from Jeddah.
Police and a bomb disposal squad evacuated the building, which houses the two newspapers and the weekly Al-Hadath as well as printing facilities.
Jarallah said Thursday’s incident was the fourth attempt on his life and that he believes it is a “response to what I have been writing against terrorists and extremists in the Arab world.”
