Kuwait boosts security at energy sites

Kuwait beefed up security around strategic energy and other installations in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state on Tuesday, security sources said.

They said the Interior Ministry also ordered security tightened around embassies in Kuwait, which controls nearly 10 percent of global petroleum reserves.

However, it was not immediately clear if there was a specific threat.

Kuwait, which earlier this year faced an increase in militant violence, has previously stepped up security following upsurges in violence in neighbouring Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Security forces in Saudi Arabia, which has been battling al Qaeda militants for two years, exchanged fire with gunmen in the capital Riyadh on Monday.

A Kuwaiti Interior Ministry official could not give the reason for the security boost, but said it might be related to the incident in Saudi Arabia.

"Possibly this could be the reason. Every time something happens in Saudi Arabia, we increase security here," the official told Reuters.

Pro-American Kuwait, which hosts about 30,000 US troops, has cracked down on Islamic militants opposed to the presence of US forces in the country, which was the launchpad for the 2003 Iraq war.

- REUTERS