Fire sweeps through US camp in Kuwait

A fire swept through a U.S. military camp at Kuwait airport yesterday, but the only casualties were soldiers suffering from smoke inhalation, the official Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.

It was not clear what sparked the fire. There was no word on whether it could have been sabotage, though Kuwait has seen several attacks on the thousands of U.S. troops based in the oil-rich Gulf state for the war on neighbouring Iraq.

KUNA said firefighters from five different brigades rushed to the scene and put out the blaze that swept through 21 tents housing offices which oversee the arrival and departure of U.S. troops at the airport.

"The injuries were limited to light cases of smoke inhalation among American soldiers," the agency said, adding that strong winds caused the flames to spread rapidly.

The blaze did not disrupt traffic at the airport, which is used for both civilian and military flights, it said.

Kuwait was the launchpad for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March. There were several attacks on Americans in the buildup to the war. A U.S. Marine was killed in October and an American civilian working for the military was gunned down in January.