Kuwaiti authorities say they have foiled a plot by al-Qaida-linked militants to attack a U.S. military base and other locations in the Gulf state.
A Kuwaiti Interior Ministry statement issued Tuesday says six Kuwaitis who make up an al-Qaida-linked terror cell have been arrested and confessed to the plot.
The ministry says they planned to bomb U.S. military camp Arifjan, Kuwait's state security headquarters and other important buildings and facilities. The government statement did not provide details about those intended targets.
A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said the U.S. was grateful that Kuwaiti security forces acted quickly and eliminated the threat posed by the six individuals. The spokesman did not specify if any intelligence had been shared between U.S. and Kuwaiti forces before the arrests.
Camp Arifjan is located south of the Kuwaiti capital and serves as a staging ground for U.S. forces deployed in neighboring Iraq.
Kuwait has been a key U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War, when U.S.-led forces freed Kuwait from a seven-month occupation by forces of the late Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.