Kuwait says it has intercepted booby-trapped parcels addressed to three Kuwaiti journalists a day after a letter sent to another journalist caused a small explosion and injured one person. The Communications Ministry said all three parcels were from the same source in Lebanon that sent the letter to Ahmed al-Jarallah, editor-in-chief of the liberal al-Seyassah daily newspaper. Mr al-Jarallah's assistant was slightly hurt in the blast.
| From someplace in Lebanon, eh? Would that be Ein el-Hellhole, perhaps? |
The oil-rich Gulf state, one of Washington's staunchest allies in the region and liberated from Iraqi occupation in 1991 by US-led forces, was investigating what the ministry called a "criminal act".
| Y'might even call it an act of terrorism... |
The official Kuwait News Agency quoted a government official as saying post offices were put on alert after Thursday's incident. The three parcels were addressed to Abdallah Al-Khalaf, secretary-general of the Kuwaiti Writers Association, and journalists Nasser al-Utaybi of al-Seyassah and Dr Abdallah Muhammad al-Shaykh of the al-Qabas daily newspaper. Mr al-Jarallah, known in Kuwait for his pro-American stance, has written editorials criticising authoritarian Arab governments.
| And the bad guys just vindicated his opinions, didn't they? |
He was in Saudi Arabia at the time of the blast.
A spate of attacks against American targets in Kuwait occurred in the run-up to the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein in Iraq earlier this year. Some were blamed on radical Islamists who sympathise with militant groups such as Al Qaeda. |