Grenade hurts 13 at 101st Airborne camp
Sunday, March 23, 2003 Posted: 0133 GMT ( 9:33 AM HKT)CAMP PENNSYLVANIA, Kuwait (CNN) -- Intruders lobbed a hand grenade and fired small arms into a command tent of the U.S. Army's front-line 101st Airborne Division early Sunday, wounding 13 people, six seriously, military spokesmen said.
The incident targeting top officers gathered in the Tactical Operations Center of the legendary division's 1st Brigade was first reported by Time magazine correspondent Jim Lacey, who is accompanying the unit.
The camp spokesman said six of the wounded soldiers were evacuated to a field hospital at Camp Arifjan, also in the northern Kuwaiti desert.
Lacey, who was in a tent about 20 yards from the blast, helped move two of the wounded to an ambulance. "The carnage inside those tents was pretty severe," he said.
A major told Lacey he saw a grenade roll by him before the explosion.
Lacey said two people "ran off into the darkness" after the explosion. Two people were being held by the military but it was unclear whether they were suspects, he said.
A suspicious bag made of camouflage material was being checked by military investigators.
Lacey said the bag did not "look like any piece of military equipment" and said it had been moved to one side and people were being told to stay away from it.
"I don't know if they think it's a bomb, or they're just not taking any chances with it," Lacey said.
Lacey said a "full company" of soldiers was guarding the perimeter of the camp before the blast, but there had been traffic in and out, including "trucks, buses, and contractors. It's not a foolproof system."
About 2,100 soldiers are encamped at the post. Lacey said immediately after the blasts soldiers were assembled and deployed around the compound.