Wounded civilian says shooting shows need for anti-terror drive

LANDSTUHL, Germany -- An American who was shot in Kuwait said Tuesday he was told by Kuwaiti police that the gunman had trained in Afghanistan.

David Caraway, 37, was seriously wounded when he and another civilian employee of the U.S. military, Michael Rene Pouliot, were ambushed Jan. 21 on a road leading to Camp Doha, where thousands of U.S. soldiers are based. Pouliot, 46, was killed.

"They said they caught the guy and he had been trained in Afghanistan," Caraway told reporters at Landstuhl Medical Center, where he is recovering from multiple wounds. He didn't elaborate.

A previously unknown group calling itself the Dawa and Jihad Group claimed responsibility for the attack, a London-based Arabic newspaper said Tuesday. There was no way to verify the claim or the authenticity of the group.

A 25-year-old Kuwaiti identified as Sami al-Mutairi was arrested in Saudi Arabia after the ambush and deported to Kuwait, where officials said he confessed to the shooting.

Caraway said he hadn't felt especially threatened in Kuwait, but his ordeal strengthened his belief in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

"A lot of people think it's just a phrase or empty slogan," he said. "There is a war on terror, and it came home to me personally."

Caraway said he would return to the United States in the next few days.