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U.S. Investigates al-Qaida Link to Kuwait Shooting Attack
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
The Associated Press

Al-Kandari was very moved by footage of Palestinians killed in the violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories days before the attack, the cleric said. An Israeli raid Monday in the Gaza town of Khan Younis that left 15 Palestinians dead and more than 100 wounded has been heavily covered by Arab television stations. "Every Muslim believes Americans are helping Jews, and he was burning to do something to help," Al-Kandari's brother, Abdullah, told AP in a telephone interview.

KUWAIT -- AP
U.S. officials said Wednesday they were investigating whether al-Qaida had any links to two gunmen who killed a U.S. Marine and wounded a second in Kuwait. Friends and relatives said the attackers had been to Afghanistan and sought to "walk in the footsteps of Osama bin Laden."

Kuwait called the shooting a "terrorist act" and detained more than 30 people in a search for the accomplices of the gunmen, who were shot dead by U.S. troops after the attack.

"It is a concern about whether or not there are connections between those who shot the Marines and al-Qaida, and we do not rule that out," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attackers' links to al-Qaida were being investigated.

The two gunmen drove up in a pickup truck Tuesday and opened fire on Marines engaged in urban assault training on Failaka, an island 10 miles east of Kuwait City. The attackers then drove to a second location and attacked again before being killed by Marines, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon identified the slain Marine as Lance Cpl. Antonio J. Sledd, 20, of Hillsborough, Fla. His body was to be flown home "within 24 hours," said Lt. Garrett Kasper, spokesman for Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain.
(More: KATU TV News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

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