One Marine dies in attack in Kuwait

KUWAIT (AP) -- U.S. Marines came under small arms fire Tuesday during war games in Kuwait. One Marine was killed and a second was wounded. The two attackers were killed by U.S. forces, the Pentagon said.

The Marines were conducting live-fire urban assault training when they were attacked, apparently by civilians, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said.

The assailants got to the area in a pickup truck, which was impounded, Lapan said. The two were killed after opening fire on the marines, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Lt. Dan Hetlage.

Lapan said one Marine died during surgery at the Camp Doha Armed Forces Hospital. The wounded Marine's condition was not immediately known.

Their names were withheld until relatives were told of the attack.

Kuwaiti forces taking part in the war games were not involved the exercises where the attack occurred.

The shooting took place on Failaka Island off Kuwait's coast, Kuwait Ministry of Defense spokesman Brig. Ahmed al-Rahmani said.

The island is about 10 miles east of the capital Kuwait City and about 30 miles from the southernmost tip of Iraq. The island has been uninhabited since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

More than 1,000 U.S. Marines and Navy sailors are taking part in the exercise, dubbed Eager Mace 2002, with the Kuwaiti military. Washington has said the games are routine and not related to any possible war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Kuwait has said it opposed any unilateral military action against Iraq.

However, it has said it will allow U.S. forces to use its land for an attack if the war is sanctioned by the United Nations.