Kuwaiti killed in clash with Iraqi infiltrators

(First Edition)

NICOSIA (Reuter) - A Kuwaiti security man was killed and two people, including a UN officer from Sweden, were wounded in an exchange of fire between a Kuwaiti patrol and Iraqi infiltrators, the Kuwaiti Kuna news agency said yesterday.

The Swede, Lt-Col Anders Westberg, said he was shot in the leg in crossfire between the two sides in the incident on Sunday. He is in good condition in a Kuwaiti hospital. Col Westberg is a member of the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observeration Mission (Unikom) which monitors a ceasefire on the border.

The Kuwaiti agency said the incident occurred when the Kuwaiti guards clashed with 21 Iraqis, in civilian clothes and armed with machine-guns, on the border. The other casualty was a also Kuwaiti security man. The agency quoted an Interior Ministry statement as saying Unikom men had prevented the Kuwaiti patrol from arresting one of the Iraqis and taking him to a security centre, but Col Westberg said he could not comment further on the incident.