KUWAIT, 10 May 2004 — Kuwait has boosted security at its six ports after US warnings to Gulf states of possible seaborne attacks, customs sources said yesterday.

“It was an official warning from US intelligence, warning Gulf states of such things,” said an official at Kuwait’s General Administration of Customs who declined to be identified.

He said the warnings to the countries in the region came after recent terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and were passed on to the state agencies at Kuwaiti ports by the Interior Ministry.

They included warnings of possible seaborne attacks by booby-trapped boats or jet-skis, the official said.

In April, suicide bombers launched three boat attacks on Iraq’s southern Basra offshore terminal, which accounts for about 85 percent of Iraq’s oil exports.

OPEC nation Kuwait, which has a tenth of global oil reserves, has six ports. Three are used for regular trade and the rest to export crude and petrochemicals.

“The Interior Ministry, in cooperation with all the agencies that work at the Kuwaiti ports, has taken full preventive precautions to boost security,” the Kuwaiti official said.

“They include boosting intelligence at these (port) areas and preventing boats from entering to within five kilometers from a Kuwaiti port,” he said. “This is done in cooperation with the Coast Guard and naval forces.”

Kuwait has beefed up security around strategic oil and other installations and diplomatic missions since a recent surge in violence in Iraq.

Late last month, Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said his country had credible reports of terror threats against local and foreign installations in the country, but he did not give any details.

Kuwait yesterday condemned the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers, describing it as a violation of international conventions and human rights.

“Kuwait expresses regret and deplores the abuse and torture of Iraqi detainees in prisons, particularly Abu Ghraib prison, by coalition soldiers,” the Kuwaiti Cabinet said following its weekly meeting.

Such acts “violate international laws and conventions and principles of human rights. Kuwait calls on coalition commanders to punish those responsible for these inhumane practices who should be brought to justice,” it added.

The cabinet also “condemns continuous terrorist attacks in Iraq which result in increasing tension and instability in Iraq and the Gulf region, besides blocking the transfer of power to a new Iraqi government by the end of June,” it said.