KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait will place itself on a war footing as of Saturday, heightening security to curb the possibility of terrorist attacks in the event of a US-led war on Iraq, the interior minister said in remarks published Thursday.
From February 1, special security units will be placed along major roads and highways in Kuwait, which since last October has witnessed three serious attacks, two of them fatal, against US forces and civilians, Sheikh Mohammed Khalid al-Sabah told newspaper editors Wednesday.
Al-Qabas newspaper cited the minister as saying Kuwait will be a safe country from where there will be no evacuation of foreigners.
"We will try and stop any attempts and we will be ready for that," Sheikh Mohammed said.
The units will be comprised of Kuwaiti Army, National Guard and interior ministry personnel, raising the country's level of alert to the "fourth degree", in anticipation of any possible terrorist attacks should the US launch a military campaign against Iraq.
Some 35,000 US troops are currently based in Kuwait and 80,000 more will pour in until mid-February, when the deployment should be completed, said Sheikh Mohammed, who stressed Kuwait was passing through a "difficult phase".
Since a January 21 highway ambush that killed US civilian contractor Michael Rene Pouliot and seriously wounded a second American David Caraway, the interior ministry has tightened security along roads leading to the scene of the attack, which occurred close to Camp Doha, the largest US military base here.
Security authorities also rounded up scores of suspects, namely Kuwaitis who had allegedly been in Afghanistan, and have since announced the arrest of Kuwaiti Sami Mohammed Marzook al-Mutairi who confessed to the attack and that he "embraced the ideas of al-Qaeda," according to a ministry statement.
Mutairi and four other Kuwaiti suspects were referred to the prosecution this week for questioning, a senior security official earlier said.
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