Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05KUWAIT446
2005-02-01 12:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

KUWAIT RESPONDS TO JANUARY 31 SHOOTOUT: GOK WILL

Tags:  PTER PREL KU TERRORISM 
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UNCLAS KUWAIT 000446 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PREL KU TERRORISM
SUBJECT: KUWAIT RESPONDS TO JANUARY 31 SHOOTOUT: GOK WILL
NOT COMPROMISE ON TERROR

REF: A. KUWAIT 417

B. KUWAIT 406

C. KUWAIT 339

D. KUWAIT 264

E. KUWAIT 244

F. KUWAIT 174

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000446

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PREL KU TERRORISM
SUBJECT: KUWAIT RESPONDS TO JANUARY 31 SHOOTOUT: GOK WILL
NOT COMPROMISE ON TERROR

REF: A. KUWAIT 417

B. KUWAIT 406

C. KUWAIT 339

D. KUWAIT 264

E. KUWAIT 244

F. KUWAIT 174


1. Summary: Kuwaiti officials vowed to use all available
resources to hunt down militants after security forces
engaged in a nine-hour confrontation with Islamic radicals on
January 31 that left 5 militants, 1 civilian and 1 police
officer dead, 4 police officers and 3 militants wounded, and
led to the capture of the group's spiritual leader, Amer
Khlaif Al-Enezi. End Summary.


2. Interior Minister Shaykh Nawaf Al Ahmed Al-Sabah told
local reporters January 31 that Kuwait was exerting maximum
effort to hunt down all suspects involved in the string of
shootouts between security forces and radical Islamic
militants. Meeting with the editors of local dailies the
same day, Acting Minister of Information Faisal Al-Hajji
likened the current security situation to "cancer" and said
the government was "determined to confront and uproot this
phenomenon," according to Arabic daily Al-Watan. The Prime
Minister was quoted ordering all government ministries to
confront extremism in all its forms.


3. National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi, who is
presiding over a February 1 special session of that body to
discuss security in the country, told the Kuwait News Agency
(KUNA) January 31 that the Assembly was united in support of
government efforts to combat extremism. He further said
"Kuwaitis all reject such acts and tendencies."


4. During its weekly Sunday meeting on January 30, the
Council of Ministers charged all government authorities to
take whatever measures necessary to maintain public safety.
The Ministry of Awqaf responded by issuing orders to its
media department to develop a media campaign to combat
extremism.


5. Other prominent Kuwaitis have voiced their solidarity with
the government. At a January 31 seminar hosted by the Kuwait
Graduates Society and entitled "Extremism and Terrorism...
Why?," non-profit organizations expressed their condemnation
of the current violence and terrorism in general. The head
of the Women's Cultural Society, Shaikha Al-Nisf, said Kuwait
should take a comprehensive approach to combating terror and
countering extremist thought and behavior. Graduates Society
President Saud Al-Enezi called for a review of Kuwaiti school
curricula as an integral part of any such strategy. A member
of the Kuwait Journalists Asssociation, Ayed Al-Mannaa,
agreed, and noted that the ultimate goal of the terrorists
was the deprivation of freedom. He said terrorists would fail
here just as they had in Algeria and are doing in Saudi
Arabia.


6. The incident was the fourth (refs A-F) between Kuwaiti
security forces and suspected terrorists in the month of
January, during which the GOK conducted a series of
operations aimed at rounding up possible terrorists and
seizing illegal weapons.

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LEBARON