KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - Kuwait's secret service has detained eight Islamic activists for questioning amid a heightened security alert among the 4,500 U.S. troops stationed in the emirate, security sources here said Tuesday.
The activists include two Kuwaitis and six Yemenis and Syrians who are believed to be associated with a Saudi national who managed to leave Kuwait, the sources added.
Separately, the London-based Islamic Observation Center, a self-styled defender of Muslim rights around the world, reported that Kuwaiti authorities had arrested nine Islamists in connection with "threats to Americans in the Gulf."
It said those arrested were of Kuwaiti, Egyptian, Yemeni, Syrian and even Bosnian nationalities.
U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were put on the highest security alert last week because of a "credible threat" of attacks against unspecified targets.
Kuwait's interior ministry beefed up security precautions around the U.S. and British embassies in the emirate and set up checkpoints to search all vehicles entering the areas around the two embassies. The interior ministry disclosed no details about the arrests.
Security forces are also closely monitoring some 40 American and British schools in the emirate.
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait last week warned Americans "the U.S. government has indications that individuals may be planning terrorist actions against U.S. citizens and interests in the Gulf, Arabian Peninsula and Turkey."
"American citizens in the region should avoid large crowds and demonstrations, maintain a low profile and take appropriate steps to reduce their vulnerability," a pre-recorded message said.
The U.S. military has a 4,500-strong contingent in Kuwait that uses equipment stockpiled at Camp Doha, west of the capital, for joint maneuvers and live firing practice.
An undisclosed number of U.S. aircraft and 400 aircrew are also deployed at Ahmad al-Jaber air base, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kuwait City, from where they patrol a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq.
