A police raid on suspected militant hideouts in Kuwait has erupted into a gunbattle that killed at least five people.
Authorities found three militants dead after today's (Sunday's) fighting. One police commando was killed, and officials say a fifth man, a resident of the building where the shootout took place, also died.
At least three police were wounded during the gunbattle, in a residential district (Salmiya) near a large U.S. military base outside the Kuwaiti capital.
Today's raid came one day after diplomats and government officials in Kuwait warned that the oil-rich Gulf emirate was facing a new threat of terrorist attack. It was the third clash this month between Kuwaiti security forces and militants believed to be linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network.