Kuwaiti security forces have detained up to eight Kuwaiti soldiers suspected of plotting to attack US forces in the Gulf Arab state.
The soldiers, some of whom are high-ranking officers, and several non-Kuwaiti citizens were detained a week ago and are being questioned over an alleged plan to attack US soldiers in Kuwait, the launchpad for the 2003 war on Iraq.
Kuwait's official news agency KUNA quoted a military official as saying that Kuwaiti "Army Intelligence's security apparatus is interrogating some members of the military after what surfaced on a plot against friendly troops."
Director of Moral Guidance and Public Relations, Army Chief of Staff, Air Commodore Yousef Abdelrazzak al-Mulla told KUNA that some men had been released. Anyone with proven links to the alleged plot would be referred to the martial court, he added.
Al-Mulla declined to say how many soldiers had been detained.
US officials were not immediately available for comment.
The United States has warned Americans in Kuwait that militants are preparing to launch attacks in the Gulf Arab state and has urged its citizens to be vigilant.
Kuwait, which controls nearly 10 percent of global petroleum reserves, increased security around oil and other key installations following an attack in December on a US consulate in Saudi Arabia.
The Gulf Arab state has been cracking down on Muslim militants opposed to the presence of US forces in the oil-rich country as well as those plotting attacks against foreign troops in neighboring Iraq.
A group of 20 Kuwaiti men are being tried for plotting to attack US-led forces in Iraq and Kuwait. A Kuwaiti court is also trying another group of three Kuwaiti men accused of entering the Iraqi city of Falluja to fight US-led forces.