Military

DATE=10/14/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-295236

TITLE=KUWAIT / U-S (L)

BYLINE=GREG LaMOTTE

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

INTRO: There has been another shooting incident involving U-S troops in Kuwait, but no one was injured in the latest case. As V-O-A's Greg LaMotte reports, Kuwaiti officials say it is to early to say if the gunfire was intentionally directed at the U-S troops.

TEXT: U-S embassy officials in Kuwait say shots were fired from two civilian sport utility vehicles at U-S military units in the desert of northern Kuwait, near the Iraqi border. No one was injured and, according to the officials, U-S troops did not return fire.

The speaker of Kuwait's parliament, Jassem al Kharafi, said it remains unclear what happened, but he suggested the gunfire could have been from bird-hunters.

Last Tuesday, a U-S Marine was killed and another wounded when two Kuwaitis in a civilian vehicle opened fire on a group of Marines during a training exercise on a Kuwaiti island. The two gunmen were then shot and killed by U-S forces.

On Saturday, Kuwaiti officials announced that 15 Kuwaitis had confessed to being involved in plotting Tuesday's attack.

A team from the U-S Federal Bureau of Investigation is in Kuwait as part of a joint inquiry into that attack.

Last Wednesday, a U-S soldier fired a single bullet at a car, apparently because he believed he was threatened. No one was injured in that incident.

The United States has about 10-thousand troops in training in Kuwait. (Signed)

NEB/GL/KL/KBK