Kuwait says 15 suspects confess to deadly attack on U.S. Marine

KUWAIT -- Kuwait's interior minister said Saturday that 15 Kuwaitis in police custody had confessed to a deadly attack on U.S. Marines, but that no firm link has been established between them and al-Qaida.

Sheik Mohammed Khaled Al Sabah told reporters that although there was no clear evidence linking the attackers to Osama bin Laden's terror network, the leader of the cell and one of the assailants, Anas al-Kandari, had pledged allegiance to bin Laden.

But he warned, "We have no information the attack was ordered from outside" Kuwait.

Earlier, Islamic lawmaker Khaled al-Adwa quoted the minister as telling lawmakers that members of the cell had confessed to belonging to al-Qaida. But Al Sabah said only one individual said he had sworn loyalty to bin Laden.

Al Sabah said the terror group had planned five more attacks on American and foreign interests in Kuwait. He declined to elaborate.An Interior Ministry official said Friday that the questioning of some 60 suspects and witnesses in the Tuesday attack that killed two U.S. Marines has led authorities to a terror cell headed by Anas al-Kandari, one of the attackers.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Kandari, 21, and the other attacker, Jassem al-Hajiri, 26, were trained in Afghanistan.

The two men drove up to a group of Marines who were taking a break from training on the island of Failaka, 10 miles off the coast of Kuwait City. They opened fire at the Marines in two locations before they were gunned down.

Scores of Kuwaitis have fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. Al-Qaida spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was a Kuwaiti citizen until the government stripped him of his nationality a year ago after he appeared on television next to bin Laden threatening westerners with attacks. Al-Qaida is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

Al-Adwa was one of many fundamentalists who condemned the attack on the Marines. But in some private circles, al-Kandari and al-Hajiri are hailed as "martyrs" who were promised heaven.

The two attackers, who were cousins, told friends and family members they were moved by footage of Palestinians killed in an Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip days before the attack. They reportedly felt they were avenging the deaths of fellow Muslims by lashing out at Americans who support the Jewish state.

The terrorist cell was planning more attacks on American installations that could have been the embassy and housing of personnel connected to the military, according to the Kuwaiti official.

The Failaka attack was unprecedented in Kuwait, a major U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War that liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation. The government called it a "terrorist act," and vowed to continue supporting Washington in the war on terrorism.