Civilians injured in Kuwait training area

[Barrett808]

KUWAIT CITY - American soldiers accidentally fired on a civilian car that entered a shooting range where they were training Tuesday, injuring two adults and a child, the U.S. military said.

In a brief statement, the military said three other children in the car apparently escaped injury. None of the vehicle's occupants were affiliated with the U.S. military, the statement said.

The child was lightly injured, and the extent of the adults' injuries was unknown, said the statement. They were taken to a local hospital.

The identities of the passengers were not immediately known and it was not clear how they entered the vast off-limits area in Camp Udairi, in northwestern Kuwait, where the troops were training with live ammunition.

The defense ministry said the injured were in stable condition.

Udairi, some 28 miles from the Kuwaiti border with Iraq, was set up after the U.S.-led 1991 Gulf War that liberated the small, oil-rich country from a seven-month Iraqi occupation.

Kuwait's defense pact with Washington after the war calls for pre-positioning weapons and continuous military training in this country.

Kuwait was the launch pad for the 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein. It is still a major logistic base for American and other troops serving there in Iraq.

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