American, German and Czech specialists from the Combined/Joint Task Force skilled in Consequence Management teamed up with the Kuwaiti civil defence for the exercise aimed at testing their ability to deal with the doomsday scenario of Iraqi retaliation with sarin nerve gas against its southern neighbour.

The drill tested the coalition forces' ability to provide the Kuwaiti emergency services with specialist expertise in chemical reconaissance, casualty and vehicle decontamination, and medical treatment.

"Our goal is to solidify cooperation and communication between the Combined/Joint Task Force ... and Kuwaiti response forces," General Craig T. Boddington of the US Marine Corps told reporters.

"And to train for the worst and hope for the best."

US ambassador Richard Jones, who toured the area, described the drill as a "multinational effort" with "each individual group training in its own area of expertise."

"Our goal is to disarm Iraq ... The choice for war is really up to Saddam Hussein and his government," Jones said, when asked if a US-led attack on Iraq was inevitable.

"Our President (George W. Bush) has said that while we intend to consult the United Nations, we won't let our national security be jeopardized in any way."

The US embassy meanwhile updated its warning to citizens here following a spate of attacks on American targets here amid a mounting US military buildup in the emirate.

"Two security-related incidents occurred recently at an apartment complex in Kuwait with a high concentration of American citizen residents," the message said, without elaborating.

"American citizens are advised to avoid apartment complexes in Kuwait where Americans or other Westerners are generally known to live or visit in large numbers.

"Americans should also increase their security awareness at other public places where Americans or other Westerners are known to congregate or visit in large numbers."

A Kuwaiti teenager was arrested in October with 10 Molotov cocktails near a complex housing many US military personnel from the nearby Ahmad al-Jaber air base, where Washington keeps an undisclosed number of warplanes.

The teenager "claimed he had received orders through the Internet from Pakistan," an interior ministry official told AFP at the time. "He said he was told to put the Molotov cocktails that we found in his car, in the two buildings."

Kuwait said the teenager was "never a threat" but the incident nevertheless unnerved Westerners here, occurring days after two Kuwaitis killed a US marine and wounded another during wargames on a Kuwaiti island.

Several shooting incidents followed involving US forces here, all of which were played down by Kuwait, which had condemned the island attack as a "terrorist" act.

Then on November 21, a Kuwaiti police officer shot and seriously wounded two US soldiers in a civilian vehicle on a highway south of the capital.

The officer reportedly told public prosecutors he "hated Americans" and had planned to kill them.

Fears of a US-led war on Iraq and its fallout in the region have prompted the Kuwaiti government to implement a flurry of contingency plans.

The civil defence has been intensively training in NBC response while also briefing schools, hospitals and government institutions on precautions against any Iraqi reprisals.

Air raid sirens are also being regularly tested around the country, while gas masks and NBC protective tents have been put on sale at 13,000 dollars apiece.

The Joint Task Force deployed here in November 2001 while German and Czech NBC specialist units arrived in spring this year.

US troops numbers in the emirate have mushroomed to 15,000 in recent weeks.

SPACE.WIRE