KUWAIT CITY (AFX) - The heart of
Kuwait was hit in a missile attack early Saturday, but
there were no casualties, an Agence France-Presse
correspondent at the scene reported.
The missile landed at around 1.45 pm local time 10
metres out to sea, according to an interior ministry
official, but the fallout extended 300 metres into one
of the emirate's largest and most popular shopping
malls, Souk Sharq.
The mall, which closes at 10 pm local time lies just
a few hundred metres from the foreign ministry and one
of the emir's palaces.
Pieces of missile debris could be seen everywhere
outside the shopping centre, surrounded by an
overpowering stench of burning metal.
Glass doors were shattered and there was extensive
damage along a 30-metre sidewalk outside the back of the
mall, including the destruction of a cinema facade and a
collapsed interior ceiling.
An AFP correspondent in the city said air raid
sirens, which are supposed to give warning of incoming
missiles, did not go off.
"It could have been a low-flying missile which is why
it was not picked up by the air defence system. It could
have been launched from the sea," explained another
interior ministry official.
Amid chaotic scenes where Kuwait police struggled to
hold back hundreds of interested residents and press,
Czech nuclear, biological and chemical weapons experts
took one hour to arrive at the scene.
Since the start of the week-old war on Iraq, some 15
Iraqi missiles have been fired at Kuwait, from where
tens of thousands of US and British troops have moved
into Iraq.
On Friday, the US military said F/A-18 fighter jets
targeted three Al Samoud missile launchers in an air
strike near the southern port city of Basra.
"The strike was carried out with precision-guided
ordnance to continue to degrade Iraq's ability to strike
coalition forces, the Iraqi people, or neighboring
countries," it said.
fm/lp/cl AFP