A US military statement said the cause of the incident was under investigation.

“At about 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) outside Camp Udairi a pick-up truck ran into a group of soldiers who were outside the facility. Ten to 15 soldiers were hurt.

“There were shots fired by the uninjured soldiers at the vehicle, and at this point the incident is under investigation,” the statement said.

The truck driver had sustained two gunshot wounds, to the upper chest and shoulder, and was in “critical condition,” the spokesperson said.

A Kuwaiti security source meanwhile said the driver was an Egyptian electrician employed at the camp, adding “we don’t know yet if it was an accident or an attack.” Military spokesman Col. Guy Shields, in answer to questions, said the driver was wearing civilian clothes and added without elaborating that the number of injured would probably change.

A US military source said earlier that an attacker drove a truck into a group of soldiers lined up outside a military “PX” shop at Camp Udairi north of Kuwait City.

A worker in the camp said he had heard the sound of shooting and ambulances had been called, adding the alleged attacker and an accomplice had been wounded by gunfire from US troops and taken away in an ambulance.

Egyptian immigrant workers who had been working in a container-type structure nearby were dragged out, made to lie on the ground and were being questioned.

The attack was the first on a US military base in Kuwait since hand grenades were thrown into tents at a US camp in the country earlier this month, killing two US soldiers and wounding several.

A US soldier was arrested in connection with that incident.

Kuwait was the main launchpad for the March 20 invasion of neighboring Iraq by US and British forces, and still hosts thousands of servicemen and women from both countries.