Kuwait: Police shoot in air to disperse attackers

Cairo: Members of a traffic police patrol in Kuwait had to shoot in the air to disperse a group of people who attacked them while handling a violating motorist, local media said, the latest in a series of attacks on security personnel in the country.

The incident started when patrol in the area of Al Rawda in the Kuwaiti capital stopped a car driven by a Kuwaiti citizen due to a traffic violation.

When the motorist was asked to show his driving licence, he along with his friends assaulted the policemen, according to a security source.

In response, the police had to shoot in the air to disperse them, the source added. Eventually, the motorist was arrested while suspected accomplices fled in their cars.

In recent weeks, Kuwait has witnessed a string of attacks on police personnel.

Last month, a Kuwaiti motorist briefly abducted a policeman when he attempted to stop him

Ensuing investigations showed that the offender was a drug taker and had in his possession a bag containing a narcotic substance.

In September, a Kuwaiti man was arrested after he had stabbed two policemen with a knife as they were trying to restrain him from attacking his parents in the town of Jaber Al Ahmad, west of Kuwait City.

In June, a young Syrian man, fleeing after killing his mother, fatally stabbed a traffic policeman in the area of Al Mahboula in Kuwait's governorate of Al Ahmadi.

Dubbed in the local media the Mahboula crime, the murder shook Kuwait and triggered calls for tougher enforcement of law and more protection for police.