Missiles miss targets in Kuwait but spread fear of chemical attack

The sirens were still wailing yesterday evening, echoing across the dusty city, warning of more incoming missiles as Saddam Hussein struck back at the US attempt on his life.

They had been sounding on and off throughout the day – four, five or six times it seemed. Sometimes they had been sounded so closely together that it was impossible to tell if one had ended and a new one begun. Most bizarre of all was when a warning followed hard after the evening call to prayer and the wail of the siren seemed to mingle with the voice of the muezzin.

Iraq fired at least four missiles into Kuwait yesterday – three of them apparently aimed at American and British soldiers massing on the border and one at Kuwait City itself. None of them carried chemical or biological warheads and none struck their intended targets – either falling short or else being shot down by Patriot air defence missiles. There was a report that one had fallen into the sea.

But while there were no reported casualties, the attacks were enough to shake all of Kuwait from its near nonchalance and to terrify the public.

"I heard the warning and ran into the bunker at the bottom of the building. I was down there for two hours," smiled Mohammed Shah Alam, a security guard at an upmarket department store, able to laugh now that his ordeal was over. "When I heard that siren I was scared."

There had been endless warnings that President Saddam might strike out with his missiles – targeting Kuwait in much the same way as he did Saudi Arabia and Israel during the first Gulf war.

But warnings are one thing; it's different when it actually happens. "I was in the office when we heard the [first] warning," said Arif Khan, 27, a marketing manager for an international firm, who was walking the brightly-lit streets of central Kuwait City last night.

"There was a right panic – people were running all over the place. They sent us home so I went home and started trying to secure the rooms – putting duct tape around the windows." Several hours later, Mr Khan said he now felt able to leave his home. But he admitted: "I am still shaking. It is the sound of that siren that is so bad."

The first of those sirens had been sounded at around 10.30am local time, less than seven hours after the US launched the 40 cruise missiles aimed at killing President Saddam and his senior leadership. Out in the desert camps where US and British troops were awaiting orders to push forward, the warning of "Incoming" had sent them hurtling for their defensive bunkers and struggling into their gas masks and protective suits.

From then on the pattern was set for much of the morning – soldiers and the journalists "embedded" with them having to run for cover as the sirens wailed. In Kuwait City the situation was made worse because the Kuwaiti authorities failed to sound the "all clear" once the alert was over – meaning that in at least one instance people stayed in their bunker for some time, unaware that the danger had passed.

Exactly what President Saddam had fired at Kuwait was not entirely clear last night. A Kuwaiti defence ministry spokesman said two Scud missiles had been shot down – one intercepted with three Patriot missiles and the second brought down with a single Patriot. Two missiles that had been fired earlier in the day were said to have been smaller weapons, possibly Seersucker anti-ship missiles. Another report said some of the missiles may have been al-Samoud 2 weapons. Baghdad, denied that it had any Scud missiles, though Western experts believe Iraq has between 12 and 15.

It was impossible to tell. Close to the town of Jahra, north of Kuwait City, where one of the missiles fell, Kuwaiti soldiers had set up a road block and turned back The Independent. "You can't go up there," said one soldier. "I don't know why you can't."

Back in Kuwait City last night there were no signs of panic – even though it was clear the danger was still present. Shops were still open and in the city centre people were gathering in the cheap kebab shops that line the main drag. "No, there is no problem," said the owner of one.

Quite why was unclear. Partly perhaps it was the news that to the north US Marines were starting their march into Iraqi territory while in Baghdad US and British warplanes were carrying out a heavy bombing raid – an indication that whoever had launched those missiles at Kuwait would be unlikely to be able to do so for much longer.