Kuwait yesterday said it had foiled an al Qaeda-linked plan to bomb a US Army camp and other "important facilities" in the Opec oil exporting state. An Interior Ministry statement said all six members of the al Qaeda-linked cell had confessed after being arrested. It did not say if the targeted facilities included oil industry plants in Kuwait, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter.

"The state security has uncovered a terrorist network following al Qaeda, and includes six (Kuwaiti) citizens who have planned to carry out a plan to bomb Arifjan Camp, the state security building and other important facilities," the ministry said.

Camp Arifjan is located south of Kuwait City and serves as a staging ground for forces deploying in Iraq.

In Washington, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell applauded the Kuwaiti government action and said it looked like an attack on US interests had been imminent.

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