Faylaka Island attack

Faylaka Island attack
A Lithuanian map of Faylaka Island with it highlighted, in relation to mainland Kuwait and neighboring countries.
Location Faylaka Island, Kuwait
Date October 8, 2002 (2002-10-08)
11:00 a.m. (UTC+03:00)
Target U.S. Marines on a training exercise
Attack type
 Motorized small arms assault
Weapons Kalashnikov rifles, pickup truck
Deaths 3 (including two attackers)
Non-fatal injuries
 1 U.S. Marine wounded (WIA)
Victims 1 U.S. Marine killed †
Perpetrators Anas Al Kandari and Jassem al-Hajiri †
Assailants 2 armed gunmen
Motive Jihadism and anti-Americanism

On October 8, 2002, two Kuwaiti citizens with ties to jihadists in Afghanistan attacked a group of unarmed United States Marines conducting a training exercise on Faylaka Island, killing one of them before being killed themselves by armed sentries. The attackers were reported to have served as volunteers with the Taliban in Afghanistan, prior to the U.S. invasion of the country in response to the September 11 attacks of 2001.

The Marines were on a training exercise on Faylaka Island, an island off the coast of Kuwait. One U.S. Marine was killed and another was seriously injured. The two Kuwaiti attackers were also killed themselves after U.S. Marines returned fire in self-defense. The Marines' rifles were loaded with blank rounds for the training exercise, but they were able to engage their Kuwaiti attackers with their pistols. Prior to the Persian Gulf War of 1991 the island was a resort, but in 2002 the war damage had not been repaired.

Background

In October 2002, an element of approximately 150 U.S. Marines from India Company and Lima Company of Battalion Landing Team,[1] 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment,[2][1] 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit[3][1] were on Faylaka Island as part of Eager Mace, a joint annual U.S. and Kuwaiti military amphibious assault training exercise. Eager Mace had begun the previous month and had 2,000 U.S. Marines participating in it in total.[4] For the part of the exercise that took place on Faylaka Island, it was conducted by U.S. forces only.[4]

Faylaka Island was a small island belonging to Kuwait, located in the Kuwait Bay off the eastern coastline of mainland Kuwait proper. During the Persian Gulf War of 1991, forces of the Iraqi Army had invaded and occupied the island, severely damaging it in the process.[5] More than 11 years later, a lot of the damage had not been repaired and some buildings still had graffiti painted on them from the war.[5]

The Marines on Faylaka had left southern California's Camp Pendleton in June 2002 and had arrived in Kuwait via the naval warship USS Denver after making port calls in several different foreign countries.[1] In addition to the usual training duties that were part of the scheduled exercise, the Marines were also practicing for a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq amid United Nations deliberations over an alleged Iraqi regime chemical weapons program, deliberations which, if proved unfruitful, would almost certainly mean said invasion would occur.

Aside from the Marines, there was a small civilian caretaker presence on the island consisting of Kuwaiti citizens, as well as a few shop owners,[6] which surprised the Marines a little bit as they were under the impression that the island was deserted.[1] Nevertheless, the Marines felt very safe and secure on the island as Kuwait was ostensibly an allied country of the U.S.,[1] the Kuwaiti government told them it was safe,[1] and there was a small contingent of Kuwaiti police there as well.[1] In addition, the Kuwaiti civilians with whom the Marines interacted with were friendly and were ostensibly glad to have U.S. military forces in their country.[1]

The attack

Antonio J. "Tony" Sledd (left), the sole U.S. Marine killed in the attack.

On October 7, two Kuwaiti men, Anas al-Kandari and Jassem al-Hajiri, sat in a small white-with-red stripes Nissan pickup truck that they had rented and reconnoitered the Marines training from a distance. They had spent some time at a local mosque a few days before and had reconnoitered the Marines the day prior as well.

The two men were Jihadis who had received terrorist training in Afghanistan. They had arrived at the island via ferry at 10:30 a.m. and had been to the island a few times before, where they would play soccer and imbibe soft drinks. Al-Kandari himself had fasted and prayed before going to the island in October, writing a will in which he demanded that his possessions be given to his fellow Jihadis. He recorded a "martyrdom video" at a mosque before going to the island, where he read some verses from the Quran and gave an oration to the camera urging Muslims to be more devout in Islam and to fight infidels, as well as lambasting the U.S. for its alleged atrocities against Muslims. Al-Hajiri was al-Kandari's cousin and a 26-year-old man who worked for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Oil.

The following day, October 8, was a hot and sunny day on the island. At approximately, 11:00 a.m. local time, some Marines were taking a break from official duties and resting at a beach-side campsite during a lull in the training. They thus did not have live ammunition in their rifles for training purposes, although a few commissioned officers and senior NCOs carried Beretta M9 sidearms loaded with live ammunition.[7][8] Soon thereafter, the two gunmen began shooting at the Marines with Kalashnikov rifles,[7][9][10] specifically targeting two Marines playing a makeshift game of baseball during a rest in the training. One nearby Marine became disgruntled after hearing the gunfire, mistaking it for that of his fellow Marines, but soon realized otherwise.[6]

The Marines, believing the island was safe, were caught off guard by the attack. The gunfire by the two assailants struck the two baseball-playing Marines as well as a tent and dozens of cases of soft drinks. After shooting at the Marines initially, reports state the men then drove to another location and then shot again. According to accounts, a Marine sentry returned fire with an M16A2 rifle and company commander Captain Matthew S. Reid returned fire with a sidearm, with the former's gunfire disabling the truck. The two Kuwaiti gunmen were shot, with one of them exiting the vehicle on the passenger side with several gunshot wounds. Reid and the senior-most Marine enlisted on the island, First Sergeant Timothy Ruff, and Company Gunnery Sergeant Wayne A. Hertz then closed with and shot the gunman several more times, killing them. Ruff and other Marines, including Hertz, then extracted the wounded driver of the truck from out of the vehicle. That gunman also died.[7][8] Before the second gunman died, the Marines walked up to his body and stood over him. Surrounded by U.S. Marines, the mortally-wounded gunman laid dying on the ground and muttered a few phrases in Arabic before finally expiring.

Radio operator Lance Corporal George R. Simpson, Jr.,[11][12] a 21-year-old Ohioan from Dayton, was shot in the arm and Lance Corporal Antonio J. "Tony" Sledd,[13][14] a 20-year-old Floridian,[15][16] was shot in the chin and abdomen. An avid baseball fan from Florida's Hillsborough County, Sledd was playing an impromptu baseball game with Lance Corporal Simpson when the former was shot by one of the black-bearded gunmen at point-blank range in the back.[1]

Naval corpsmen assessed the injured Marines and came to the conclusion that they needed more intensive care and thus a request was put in to the U.S. Army hospital at Camp Doha for a medical evacuation. Within ten minutes, a U.S. Army UH-60 medical helicopter arrived and flew the two wounded Marines to the mainland for treatment at an army hospital in Kuwait City. Sledd was reportedly in good spirits when he was taken away by the helicopter, but he was ultimately mortally wounded and subsequently died. However, Simpson managed to survive his wounds and was awarded the Purple Heart Medal later that month by a general.[12]

After al-Kandari and al-Haijiri were killed by the Marines, reports indicate that the Marines then took incoming gunfire from a nearby fishing village, with some of them jumping into the water to avoid being shot, as cover was scarce on a sandy beach. A CH-47 helicopter arrived and distributed ammunition to the Marines, who then went into the town to fight the village-based attackers.[17] Eight hours later, the Marines concluded and left.[17]

Aftermath

Matthew S. Reid, one of the U.S. Marines present during the attack, pictured here in the mid-2010s as a colonel.

After killing the two attacking gunmen, the Marines were unsure if as to whether or not there were any more attackers or not as there was still incoming gunfire. However, that gunfire too ceased soon thereafter but the Marines were unable to find the shooter that fired those shots. The Marines of Lima Company set up a defensive posture, requested more ammunition, searched nearby buildings, stopped civilian vehicles, generally locked down the area and detained 31 civilians for investigation, including two medical students suspected of being linked to gunman al-Kandari, handing them over to Kuwaiti authorities for further investigation.[8][18][19][20][7] An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was dispatched over the island along with British air force Tornadoes and U.S. Air Force F-16s.

Local Kuwaitis who knew the two gunmen personally considered them to be martyrs after the attack.

The exercise the Marines were a part of, Eager Mace, was originally intended to last three weeks.[4] However, it was cancelled prematurely after the attack.[4]

In an unrelated incident, three U.S. Marines were injured in an explosion a couple of days later on October 10 in Udairi, Kuwait.[21]

Though the Iraq War itself would not begin until a few months later in March of the following year, Sledd is considered by some[22][23] to be the first U.S. combat casualty of the war, as he was killed by hostile fire while training for its commencement. His death became a rallying cry for some of the Marines who knew him, who said, "Remember how and why Sledd died!"[24] Sledd was posthumously advanced to the rate of corporal. Eight days after the attack, the U.S. government passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, which legally cleared the way for the U.S. to invade Iraq, which it in March did the following year.[25]

George R. Simpson, one of the Marines injured in the attack, left the U.S. Marine Corps in 2004. According to his mother, he had two titanium plates installed into his injured arm and with more than twenty-five screws holding the affected area together.[26]

In mid-2015, one of the suspects connected with the attack was killed by the U.S. government, using a UAV airstrike.[27][28][22]

Matthew S. Reid, one of the Marines present during the attack is still in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a captain at the time of the attack but is now a colonel, commanding the 6th Marine Regiment since 2016.[29]

Guantanamo captives alleged to have an association with the Faylaka Island attack

A number of the captives held in extrajudicial detention in Guantanamo had their continued detention justified, in part, through a friendship or family relationship with the two attackers.

Guantanamo captives alleged to have an association with the Faylaka Island attack
ISNNameNationalityAlleged association
196Musa Bin Ali Bin Said al AmriSaudi Arabian
  • One of detainee's aliases was in another hard drive believed to belong to members of the suspected al Qaida cell involved with the October 2002 attack on US Marines in Faylaka Island.[30][31]
  • The detainee's name was listed on a computer seized from members of the suspected al Qaida cell involved in the October 2002 attack on United States Marines on Faylaka Island.[32]
226Anwar al NurrSaudi Arabian
  • The detainee's name and other information was found in a 2 September 2002 "chat session" found on the hard drive of a computer confiscated from members of the suspected al Qaida cell involved in the October 2002 attack on U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island.[33]
  • The detainee's name was discovered as part of information that was recovered from hard drives, which were seized from the suspected al Qaida cell that attacked the United States Marines on Faylaka Island in October 2002.[34][35]
234Khalid Mohammed al ZaharniSaudi Arabian
  • The detainee's name was found under a chat session on a computer hard drive seized from the suspected al Qaida cell that attacked the U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island in October 2002.[36]
568Adil Zamil Abdull Mohssin Al ZamilKuwaiti
  • The detainee was invited to the house of a man involved in the October 2002 attack on U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island, Kuwait.[37]

References

Bibliography

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  • Rhem, Kathleen T. (October 8, 2002). "One Marine Killed, One Injured in Kuwait Incident". American Forces Press Service. United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2017. One American Marine was killed today and another injured when they were attacked while training on an island off the coast of Kuwait. Department of Defense officials identified the dead Marine as Lance Cpl. Antonio J. Sledd, 20, of Hillsborough, Fla. He died from wounds received in action while participating in an urban exercise as part of Exercise Eager Mace. Sledd was assigned to Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Pendleton, Calif. The officials said the Marines were attacked at about 4:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 p.m. in Kuwait) by two men, presumed to be civilians of unknown nationality, who approached a group of Marines during the exercise and opened fire. The Marines responded, killing both attackers, a DoD spokesman said. More details were not yet available, and military officials are investigating the incident. U.S. Central Command officials said the two Marines who were shot were immediately evacuated to a "nearby military medical facility." About 1,000 U.S. Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are in Kuwait for Exercise Eager Mace, an annual U.S.-Kuwait military exercise. The Marines are part of the Belleau Wood Amphibious Ready Group, which deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from San Diego in June.
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  • Global Security (June 2003). "Eager Mace". Global Security. Archived from the original on June 25, 2003. Retrieved June 25, 2003. About 2,000 marines began an amphibious assault exercise in Kuwait in late September 2002. The annual exercise was scheduled to end around October 19th. The Marine exercise, initially intended to last three weeks, was cut short after the fatal shooting of one Marine and the wounding of another by terrorists. Plans to practice an evacuation operation were canceled after the Kuwaiti government requested that the Marines end the training and move back aboard their ships. On 08 October 2002 the assailants approached the exercise in a pick-up truck and fired on the Marines with small arms. The assailants were in civilian attire. The two gunmen were shot and killed by other Marines following Tuesday's attack. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the attack on Marines Oct. 8 was an act of terrorism. Lance Cpl. Antonio J. Sledd, 20, of Hillsborough, Fla., died in the attack. Lance Cpl. George R. Simpson, 21, of Dayton, Ohio, was wounded in the firefight. There were no Kuwaiti military forces on the island for this part of the exercise. In addition, 31 civilians have been taken into custody since the shooting as possible material witnesses. Kuwaiti authorities are questioning them.
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  • Banco, Erin (September 24, 2014). "UN Documents Point To Deep Links Between Khorasan Leader Mohsin al Fadhli And Al Nusra Front In Syria". International Business Times. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Fadhli, a bodyguard and second-in-command for a leader in the al Qaeda network, possibly Bin Laden himself, fought for the terrorist group in the north of Afghanistan. He had learned how to use firearms, antiaircraft guns and explosives when he fought against Russian forces in Chechnya. He also was implicated in an attack against U.S. Marines on the Kuwaiti island of Faylaka on Oct. 8, 2002. The Marines were training on the island and were attacked by two Kuwaitis, Anas al-Kandari and Jassem al-Hajiri. One Marine was killed.
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