WashPost The Associated Press Wednesday, October 9, 2002; 3:34 PM

WASHINGTON –– In the second violent incident involving U.S. forces in Kuwait in as many days, a U.S. troop fired his weapon at an unidentified civilian vehicle after a person in the vehicle pointed a gun at him, U.S. officials said.

Details were sketchy. The officials, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity, said initial reports from U.S. authorities in Kuwait did not indicate whether the U.S. troops were Army or Marines or whether anyone was wounded.

The intial report said U.S. troops in a Humvee utility vehicle were overtaken by a civilian vehicle and that as the civilian vehicle went by a person inside drew a gun and pointed it at the Americans. One of the Americans opened fire, and they reported having seen the civilian vehicle veer off the roadway.

It was unclear whether anyone in the civilian vehicle was hit by the U.S. gunfire.

The Americans continued driving without stopping to investigate further, the U.S. officials said.

The incident Wednesday happened on mainland Kuwait. On Tuesday, two gunmen drove up in a pickup truck and opened fire on Marines engaged in urban assault training on Failaka, an island 10 miles east of Kuwait City. The attackers then drove to a second location and attacked again before being killed by Marines.

The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry identified Tuesday's assailants as two Kuwaitis and said they had committed a terrorist act.

There was no immediate word on the motive behind Wednesday's incident.

The Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet said it was checking on the report of Wednesday's incident, and U.S. officials in Kuwait would not comment.

Kuwaiti Interior and Defense ministry officials contacted by The Associated Press said they had no immediate information.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002