Two U.S. troops were seriously wounded by a Kuwaiti traffic policeman who fired on them as they drove along a highway in Kuwait on Thursday, the U.S. military said, according to AP.
The shooting occurred about 10:30 a.m. while the Americans were traveling between the U.S. military base of Camp Doha and the town of Arifjan, a U.S. official added.
One American was wounded in the face and the other in the shoulder, the official said. Both victims were airlifted to a Kuwaiti military hospital, where they were in serious but not life-threatening condition.
The U.S. official said the soldiers did not shoot back at the lone attacker, but managed to drive to Arifjan before being airlifted for medical treatment. The attacker escaped.
A statement by the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said the policeman, who was identified only as a junior officer in the highway patrol fled to Saudi Arabia after the shooting. "Kuwaiti and Saudi security sources are coordinating for his arrest and extradition," the statement said.
In Prague, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the attack was not necessarily linked to the U.S. military buildup in Kuwait in anticipation of possible military action against Iraq.
"There have been terrorist attacks in that region for my entire adult lifetime, and that's a long time," he said. (Albawaba.com)
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