Kuwaiti Islamic extremist accused in fatal attack on U.S. contractor denies charges

AP ^ | Sat Feb 8, 9:17 AM ET | AP

[Destro]

AP World Politics

Kuwaiti Islamic extremist accused in fatal attack on U.S. contractor denies charges to bail judge, says lawyer

Sat Feb 8, 9:17 AM ET

KUWAIT CITY - The Kuwaiti Islamic extremist suspected of killing a U.S. contractor and injuring another in an ambush near an American military camp last month denied to a judge Saturday that he committed the crimes, his lawyer said Saturday.

Sami al-Mutairi, a 25-year-old civil servant, denied shooting two computer contractors from San Diego on Jan. 21 during a hearing Saturday arranged to extend his detention, counsel Mohammed al-Mutairi told The Associated Press.

The lawyer said his client told the judge that police and prosecutors had forced him to confess to the crime.

The judge approved the prosecution request to extend al-Mutairi's detention for two weeks.

Badi al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti detained over allegations he supplied al-Mutairi with an AK-47 assault rifle used in the attack, has also denied the accusation, the lawyer said. He too claims the confession was made under duress.

No trial dates have been set for either men.

The ambush, on a road leading to Camp Doha where thousands of U.S. troops are based, killed 46-year-old Michael Rene Pouliot and seriously wounded David Caraway, 37.

Both were working for the U.S. military under the auspices of their San Diego, California-based software company, Tapestry Solutions.

Saudi forces arrested al-Mutairi a day after the attack at the Kuwait-Saudi border and turned him over to Kuwaiti authorities.

The shooting was the first assault on U.S. civilians in Kuwait and the third on Americans since October, where pro-American sentiment is usually strong and U.S. troops are gathering ahead of a possible strike on Iraq over American claims Baghdad is stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

Fundamental Islamic leaders in Kuwait have condemned the attacks on Americans, saying those who carried them out were "misled" zealots. The oil-rich state's liberals accuse fundamentalists of fostering hatred and intolerance.

Scores of Kuwaitis have fought with Muslim extremists in Afghanistan (news - web sites), Chechnya (news - web sites) and Bosnia.

[Destro]

Scores of Kuwaitis have fought with Muslim extremists in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Bosnia.

But...but President Clinton and Sen. Lieberman and General Wesley Clark and others said they were Muslim Freedom Fighters in the traditions of George Washington no less. How can this be?

[Destro]

fighting the jihad one post at at time.

[Fred Mertz]

The ambush, on a road leading to Camp Doha where thousands of U.S. troops are based, killed 46-year-old Michael Rene Pouliot and seriously wounded David Caraway, 37.

Who did they work for? I recall the first reports said that the mortally wounded one was 50+ years old.

[KKing]

Both were working for the U.S. military under the auspices of their San Diego, California-based software company, Tapestry Solutions.

Tapestry has a few contracts with the DoD mainly for software applications and support.

[denydenydeny]

Indexing.

[Jumper]

What?! He doesn't want his 72 virgins:) He earned it - humm, these people want to live but they keep telling the world they want to die.

[aristeides]

Didn't the first reports also say that the "civil servant" was a policeman?

[Fred Mertz]

Thanks.