By IPS Correspondents
KUWAIT, Apr 1 2003 (IPS)

An Iraqi missile was shot down by a Patriot missile battery before it reached Kuwait, a spokesman for the Kuwaiti army said today.

Kuwaiti radars detected a missile launched by Iraq but it was shot down in southern Iraq before it entered the Kuwaiti airspace, the army’s Lt. Col. Awad AL Metawtah told Kuwaiti news agency KUNA.

He aid a Patriot missile hit the Iraqi missile early this morning. Sirens had sounded in Kuwait, warning of what appeared to be a missile fired by Iraq.

Before dawn Tuesday, an explosion resounded across the Kuwaiti capital, but Metawtah said it apparently resulted from a false alarm.

A watch center suspected an enemy object in the northern area, he told KUNA at the time. An anti-missile was launched and exploded in the area.

But he said the report of an Iraqi missile launch toward Kuwait that prompted the reaction may not be true.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
KUWAIT, Apr 1 2003 (IPS)

An Iraqi missile was shot down by a Patriot missile battery before it reached Kuwait, a spokesman for the Kuwaiti army said today.

Kuwaiti radars detected a missile launched by Iraq but it was shot down in southern Iraq before it entered the Kuwaiti airspace, the army’s Lt. Col. Awad AL Metawtah told Kuwaiti news agency KUNA.

He aid a Patriot missile hit the Iraqi missile early this morning. Sirens had sounded in Kuwait, warning of what appeared to be a missile fired by Iraq.

Before dawn Tuesday, an explosion resounded across the Kuwaiti capital, but Metawtah said it apparently resulted from a false alarm.

A watch center suspected an enemy object in the northern area, he told KUNA at the time. An anti-missile was launched and exploded in the area.

But he said the report of an Iraqi missile launch toward Kuwait that prompted the reaction may not be true.

Excerpt: