KUWAIT CITY, Dec 30: Civil defense officers are on the alert to protect the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, based on reports of threat the security apparatus has gathered which indicate that some Iraqi groups are planning to sneak into the port and carry out terrorist acts against the project, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.
A source revealed that the Ministry of Defense has since October drafted a strong military presence in Boubyan Island after the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s intelligence gathered similar information. He said the Iraqi officials allayed fears in that regard during diplomatic moves between the two countries to ensure a peaceful resolution of the matter.
The source noted that the concerned security apparatus has taken the necessary precautionary measures to protect the project, prior to the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki-in view of the fact that a group called the Iraqi Hezbollah launched missile attacks at the location few months ago.
Recently, the Directorate General for Civil Defense had notified the General Fire Services Directorate to get prepared for action at the port, based on intelligence at hand. The directive led to drafting of security personnel to maintain strong presence at the location to avoid any untoward incident.
The Fire Department has since directed the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Fire Station and Technical Rescue Unit to get ready for any urgent action, whereas the directors of Fire Service in all six regions are aware of the situation.
In the meantime, work is ongoing at the project site as scheduled, and regardless of the threats in that regard, the daily quoted another source as saying.
The site engineer Ghaleb Shalash Al-Shammari also said that work is going on without any unusual actions.
He stressed that the project is too significant to the country to be abandoned for any reason, and no amount of threats will compel them to suspend the work, unless there is a real incident.