Manama: The men arrested by the Kuwaiti authorities for plotting to attack a major United States military installation and state institutions in Kuwait were so confident of their success that they did not plan a suicide attack to bomb the base.

“We did not seek death, and we believed that we would successfully enter the Arifjan Camp without getting hurt. I did not want to die.

“The plan was to get the explosives-laden truck into the base, and, if I were barred from entering, to leave it at the gate with the engine running so that it could be detonated by remote control,” one of the men was reported by the local media as telling his investigators.

His five accomplices were supposed to engage the US guardsmen during the attack.

The cell members, aged between 20 and 29 and allegedly led by a surgeon at a Kuwaiti hospital, planned to attack the US base and the security agency headquarters on the first day of Ramadan, expected to start on August 21 or 22.

The attacks were planned for Iftar when security is allegedly less tight.

On Tuesday, Kuwaiti authorities said they had arrested six Kuwaitis for plotting to attack Camp Arifjan, the forward headquarters for the US Army Central Command in the region, and other sensitive Kuwaiti installations during Ramadan. The arrests were made 15 days before they were announced.

The Al Qaida-linked cell members confessed during investigations that they used the internet to learn how to use and detonate explosives and that they purchased two trucks to use against the US military base and the Kuwaiti security headquarters.

A daily said they were first spotted by the security agency after they repeatedly visited websites with tips on the use of explosives.