KUWAIT, 25 July 2004 — A group of suspected Al-Qaeda supporters arrested in Kuwait for recruiting militants to attack US troops in Iraq also planned to strike targets in Kuwait, an Interior Ministry official said yesterday.
“The maps found with them revealed that they also had plans to attack foreign troops in Kuwait, as well as Iraq,” the official said.
Kuwait said yesterday at least 12 suspected Al-Qaeda supporters had been arrested since last week and authorities were searching for two more on suspicion of indoctrinating young people in radical Islamist ideology and helping them enter Iraq via Syria to fight foreign troops.
The official said police had arrested at least three of the 12 men after interrogating four Kuwaiti youths recently handed over by Syria. Two of them managed to enter Iraq and leave earlier, and the other two were arrested while attempting to infiltrate Iraq, he added.
The Interior Ministry identified Kuwaiti nationals Khaled Abdullah Al-Dossari and Ahmed Mohamed Al-Mutairi as suspected Al-Qaeda supporters on the run. It called on citizens and residents to contact the ministry with any information on the two men.
All suspects had been referred to the Public Prosecution where they would be further questioned, the official said.
The father of another Kuwaiti caught in Iraq, 16-year-old Abdul Rahman Mubarak Al-Bathaly, said yesterday his son would be handed over to Kuwait by the Red Cross within days.
“My son called me yesterday and told me that he has been released from Abu Ghraib (prison), and that he will be returning home within a few days,” said Mubarak Al-Bathaly, adding his son had illegally entered Iraq via Syria in January.
He said his son was accused only of illegally entering Iraq and was not connected with the group in Kuwait.
Kuwait has tightened security after a surge in violence in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It has also launched a crackdown on Islamists opposed to the presence of US forces.
The official also said authorities were investigating any possible presence of terror networks in Kuwait, and were searching for two more Kuwaitis suspected of involvement in similar operations.
