Kuwaiti suspect denies killing U.S. contractor

KUWAIT CITY -- A Kuwaiti civil servant who previously admitted killing one U.S. computer contractor and injuring another claimed Saturday that authorities forced him to confess, his attorney said.

Sami al-Mutairi, 25, denied the Jan. 21 shooting of the two computer contractors near a U.S. military camp in Kuwait, counsel Mohammed al-Mutairi told The Associated Press.

The attorney said al-Mutairi told a judge that police and prosecutors forced him to confess to the crime. The judge approved a prosecution request to extend al-Mutairi's detention for two weeks.

Badi al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti detained over allegations he supplied al-Mutairi with the AK-47 assault rifle used in the attack, also claimed his confession was made under duress.

No trial dates have been set for the men.

The Jan. 21 ambush on a road leading to Camp Doha, where thousands of U.S. troops are based, killed Michael Rene Pouliot, 46, and seriously wounded David Caraway, 37.

Both worked for the U.S. military under the auspices of San Diego-based software company, Tapestry Solutions.

Saudi forces arrested al-Mutairi a day after the attack at the Kuwait-Saudi border and turned him over to Kuwaiti authorities.

The shooting was the third against Americans since October in Kuwait, where pro-American sentiment usually is strong and U.S. troops are gathering ahead of a possible military strike on Iraq over American claims Baghdad is stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

Fundamentalist Islamic leaders in Kuwait have condemned the attacks on Americans, saying those who carried them out were "misled" zealots.

The oil-rich state's liberals accuse fundamentalists of fostering hatred and intolerance. Scores of Kuwaitis have fought with Muslim extremists in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Bosnia.