KUWAIT CITY, 7 February 2005 — Kuwait announced yesterday a new anti-terror strategy and launched a fresh bid to counter extremist ideology, after five suspects were arrested in a crackdown on Islamist militants involved in a string of gunbattles.
The Cabinet reviewed a “strategy to deal with the phenomenon of terrorism and extremist ideology” prepared by the National Security Council and called for its implementation, an official statement said.
The announcement came a day after security forces arrested five more suspects following a raid on their hideout, in the fifth confrontation between militant suspects and security forces in a month.
The Interior Ministry said the men were three Jordanians and two Saudis. But Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper yesterday said the men were originally Bidoon, or stateless Arabs, who had recently obtained Saudi and Jordanian citizenship. About 100,000 stateless Arabs live in Kuwait.
The Cabinet yesterday also approved the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and referred it to Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah before sending it to parliament to endorse it.
Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said the number of terrorists being hunted by security forces was small and they would be crushed.
“The gang of terrorists is small and will be wiped out completely. ... Criminals and wanted men will not escape the hand of justice,” he told the KUNA news agency.
The minister said security forces were still hunting for Mohsen Al-Fadhli and Khaled Al-Dosari, the two most wanted men who have been at large for months and whose names emerged again following recent clashes.
Islamic Affairs Minister Abdullah Al-Maatuk yesterday formed a panel of religious scholars and academics with a mission to “strengthen moderate ideology and confront extremism”. The panel is an offshoot of a government committee formed in August and headed by the minister to combat extremism following a crackdown on a network that was recruiting fighters for neighboring Iraq.
