The suspect, a sergeant from an engineering unit, was detained shortly after the early morning attack at a tented command center in northwest Kuwait.

“He’s a Muslim, and it seems he was just against the war,” said one US military source, who did not wish to be identified.

Brigade commander Colonel Ben Hodges, who suffered a slight flesh wound in the attack, said a grenade was rolled into each of three tents at the command area at Camp Pennsylvania, the Kuwait base for the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division.

Another US military source said the assault appeared to be well-planned with the suspect first knocking out a generator that supplied electricity to the tents, and then lobbing in grenades. He also allegedly opened fire with his rifle before he was tackled and detained. The soldier was attached to the division for a few months.

“It is just unbelievable. It’s terroristic, it truly is,” said Captain James McGahey. “Everybody is a bit jumpy, edgy. You never want, especially at a time like this, to have to think whether you can trust the guy to your left or your right.”

“A suspect was taken into custody following the attack on elements of the 101st Airborne Division. The suspect is a soldier assigned to the division,” US Central Command said in a statement. An eyewitness described the man as disgruntled and said he had been “acting strange”, but the military said the attack appeared to be “politically motivated” rather than personal.

Major Hugh Cate, a spokesman for the 101st Airborne, said 16 people were hit by the attack. One died before arriving at hospital, three others underwent surgery and the other 12 were only slightly wounded.

Those Arab News spoke to, speculate differently as to the cause of the attack.

Mohammed Al-Enaizi, 27, a sales manager from Hafr Al-Batin, who is half Saudi and half Kuwaiti, said: “I feel good that this happened. He’s a Muslim and he probably feels that this war against Iraq is a war against Islam. Perhaps his faith was so strong that he felt he had to take arms against the American aggressors.” Tariq Ghazi Abdul Rahman, 32, a Muslim-American now living in Kuwait, said: “If this report is true, the Americans should screen their soldiers a little bit better. It is a very interesting and ironic development. Could it be that someone else threw the grenade and blame is being placed on a Muslim?

“Could it be that this guy is not even a Muslim? I am losing faith in the Americans because of all the inaccurate information that we are being fed by the military spokesmen. One minute they have taken over Umm Qasr, next they haven’t. Then they have, and now they haven’t. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”