Pro-government newspapers say Iraq has planned sabotage attacks on Kuwait, including hiring a Filipino man to hijack a Kuwaiti airliner.
The newspaper Al-Anba reported Saturday that a Filipino arrested at the airport on Thursday confessed that Iraq hired him to hijack a Kuwait Airways flight to Bangkok and Manila.Government officials did not confirm the report. The Philippine ambassador in Kuwait said he had no information beyond what he had read in the newspaper. He could not confirm the arrested man was a Filipino.
The suspected hijacker, who was not identified, reportedly said Iraq instructed him to demand ransom and the release of prisoners jailed in Kuwait for collaborating with Iraqi forces.
When he was arrested, the man was carrying a machine gun, small arms, ammunition, four passports and books describing aircraft, the newspaper said.
On Sunday, Al-Anba reported the Filipino told police that Iraqi agents in Cyprus were planning to infiltrate Kuwait from the sea. Iraqi agents working on plans to sabotage Kuwait were called "partners in Jihad," or Muslim holy war, the man reportedly told police.