U.S. Soldier Detained In Attack Is Identified

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., March 23 — The soldier accused in the weekend grenade attack at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait was identified today as Sgt. Asan Akbar, 31, an engineer based here with the 101st Airborne Division.
Akbar allegedly tossed from two to four grenades into three tents used to house commanders of the 1st Brigade. The bizarre attack killed Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27, of Easton, Pa., while he was sleeping. Fifteen soldiers were wounded; three remain in serious condition.
Akbar, a Muslim, skipped the first Gulf War because combat conflicted with his faith, his mother, Quran Bilal, of Baton Rouge, La., told the (Nashville) Tennessean newspaper today.
A possible motive for the attack remained unclear. Akbar was reportedly disciplined recently in Kuwait for insubordination and was being held back from advancing toward Iraq with his fellow troops from the 1st Brigade. “He was having what some people might call an attitude problem,” said George Heath, public affairs officer at Fort Campbell.
As a sergeant with Bravo Company of the 326th Engineering battalion, Akbar specialized in clearing land mines, concertina wire and other obstacles for field artillery. He supervised between four and eight soldiers.
Before shipping out, Akbar lived 10 minutes north of Fort Campbell in a modest brick apartment complex, where units rent for $450 a month. He drove a red pickup truck and kept to himself.
Neighbors gave conflicting reports of the soldier’s lifestyle. One remembers seeing pizza boxes and beer bottles in Akbar’s trash — “typical bachelor stuff,” said Reggie Howard. But another neighbor, Willie Shemell Jr., said he once offered Akbar a beer at a summer cookout and the soldier declined, saying he was a Muslim.
Akbar was born Mark Fidel Kools, but his mother changed his name to Hasan Akbar after she remarried when he was a young boy. Akbar used the name Kools to join the Army and switched back to Akbar once a soldier. Public records show names for both.
His mother told the Tennessean that her son isn’t capable of a grenade attack, and expressed concern that he might have been accused because he is a Muslim. “He said the only thing he was going out there to do was blow up the bridges,” Bilal said.
Akbar is being held in a detention facility in Kuwait.
The attack on the 1st Brigade Tactical Operations Center occurred at 1:22 a.m. Sunday in Kuwait at the camp where the 101st Airborne’s 1st Brigade was positioned. One grenade was rolled into a tent where the commanding officer, Col. Ben Hodges, was based, but it did not explode.
Two grenades were tossed into tents where other officers slept, detonating and causing havoc. Small-arms fire was also heard.
Unrelated to the explosions, an air siren went off, warning soldiers of a possible Scud missile attack. When the all-clear sign was given, soldiers and equipment were accounted for. Akbar was reportedly hiding in a bunker. He was missing four grenades from the inventory of which he was in charge.
Heath, the public affairs officer at Fort Campbell, said the incident affected the morale of soldiers gearing up for battle.
“Obviously, this is detrimental when this happens inside a camp from one of your own contemporaries,” Heath said. “But I would expect that their mission will be done with much more vigor and intensity now.”
There have been no ties to the attack and Akbar’s religious beliefs. Fort Campbell has a Muslim community of 60 to 70 worshippers, many who meet for religious services in a squat white building indistinguishable from all the other squat white buildings on post. Fort Campbell has a Muslim chaplain, who is deployed with the 101st Airborne.
Muslims in the armed services have felt the strains since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “Already, people in the Army question the loyalty of Muslims,” said Ihsan Bagby, an Islamic studies professor at the University of Kentucky who helped the Army establish its Muslim chaplain program.
But the installation chaplain at Fort Campbell, Doug McLeroy, said soldiers and civilians will view the incident more neutrally. “This is an isolated, individual act and not an expression of faith,” he said.
Akbar has not yet been charged, but the Army has started its criminal investigation. If charged, he would likely be brought back to Fort Campbell for a military trial.