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Motive a mystery in fatal grenade attackU.S. platoon sergeant being held
CAMP PENNSYLVANIA, Kuwait (CNN) -- U.S. military investigators are trying to find out what prompted a disgruntled platoon sergeant to turn on his own, allegedly lobbing four grenades at tents of the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade, killing one soldier and wounding 15 others in northern Kuwait, officials said Sunday. The suspect -- identified as Sgt. Asan Akbar with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st -- remains in custody of the military and could be sent back to the division's base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for military proceedings, officials said. Akbar -- described as a disgruntled platoon sergeant with an "attitude problem" -- was in an engineering unit guarding grenades just before the incident Sunday at about 1:45 a.m. Akbar allegedly left his post and first cut off a generator, shutting off power to the Tactical Operations Center, then began lobbing fragmentation grenades into three tents housing staff. Three grenades exploded and one was a dud, according to Wes Allison, a reporter with the St. Petersburg Times, who is embedded with troops at the camp. Officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity to Allison, said Akbar apparently shot at those who tried to flee the tents after the initial explosions. Akbar was wounded in the back of a leg by a grenade fragment, Allison reported. After the attack, officers said Akbar tried to mingle with soldiers running to the tents, but it was quickly determined he had been missing during the explosions. The officers said four grenades were missing from the area he was guarding, which was about 800 yards away from the attack site. At Fort Campbell, George Heath, a spokesman for the 101st Airborne, said soon after the attack Akbar was "found during a subsequent Scud alert and has been detained." Akbar was unable to account for four grenades, Heath said. Attack shocks militaryThe incident sent shock waves through the military. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the investigation "will run its course" and "find out precisely what took place." He said he had "no idea" what would have prompted the attack, and he had no information to suggest more than one person was involved. "The investigation will determine that, but I've heard no indication that there was any conspiracy," Rumsfeld said. At the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, deputy commander Lt. Col. John Abizaid called the incident "very tragic, very unfortunate," and not indicative of a lack of morale among troops. "I can assure you that morale is about as high as it can be," he said. Soldier killed identifiedThe Pentagon identified the soldier killed in the incident as Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27. The names of those wounded have not been released. "The investigation will determine what his (Akbar's) motive may have been," Heath said. "He was having what some people might call, it seems, an attitude problem." He said if Akbar is "found to be guilty," then he would "be brought back to Fort Campbell for judicial punishment." Heath said three of the wounded were in serious but stable condition and were to be transferred to Landstuhl Air Base in Germany. They would then be flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, before being brought back to Fort Campbell. Allison reported that the 101st's operations center is intact and functioning. Heath said the incident would not affect the mission at hand, "to support America's war on terrorism and to rid Iraq of a terrible dictator."
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