Five terror suspects surrender in Kuwait
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-06 09:21

Kuwaiti security forces surrounded a house outside of the capital Saturday and arrested five suspected terrorists in the country's latest confrontation with Islamic militants, official media reported.

Kuwait Television quoted an Interior Ministry statement as saying the five were two Saudis and three Jordanians wanted by Kuwaiti authorities. The five surrendered after little resistance in Sulaibiyah, a mainly Bedouin area about 10 miles west of Kuwait City, state television reported.

Kuwaiti security forces take position during a raid at Sulaibiya in Kuwait City. Three Jordanian and two Saudi wanted militants surrendered to Kuwaiti security forces after the raid on a suspected hideout, the interior ministry said.[AFP]

The operation was fifth confrontation this year between police and al-Qaida-influenced fundamentalists accused of planning attacks against Americans and Kuwaiti security forces.

The surrender followed the burial Saturday of 1st Lt. Hamad Majed al-Samhan, who died from wounds sustained in a Jan. 31 shootout between police and wanted militants.

Al-Samhan was the fourth police officer to lose his life during last month's crackdown on Islamic militants in Kuwait, a close U.S. ally, bordering Saudi Arabia. Many militants oppose the presence of thousands of U.S. troops in the country.

Kuwait is a logistics hub for U.S. troops serving in Iraq. More than 18,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed here.

Interior Minister Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who attended al-Samhan's funeral, told lawmakers this week during a closed door meeting that police have killed eight militants and detained 14 others, including the ring leader, in several police raids and four shootouts.

Two suspected militants remain at large, the minister said, but it was unclear if they were among the five who surrendered Saturday.

Kuwait has been a major ally of Washington since the American-led 1991 Gulf War that ended the seven-month Iraqi occupation. It was the only Arab country that openly supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein almost two years ago.

Since 2002, militant fundamentalists have killed one Marine and one civilian contractor in Kuwait.

The U.S. Embassy has warned the 13,000 citizens living here to keep a low profile and avoid places where Westerners congregate because of terrorism concerns.

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