Detained members of an Al Qaeda-linked group planned to attack Kuwait's Shuaiba oil refinery during the holy month of Ramadan, a security official said on Wednesday.

The group was targeting the 200,000 barrels per day refinery and the state security building, as well as a US army camp, daily newspaper Al-Anbaa reported earlier, citing unidentified sources it said were familiar with the investigation.

Kuwait said on Tuesday it had foiled a plan by a six-member Qaeda-linked cell to bomb the Arifjan US army camp and "important facilities", but gave no further details on the other potential targets.

Members of the group, led by a surgeon at one of the country's hospitals, had confessed to planning attacks aimed at pressuring the US to withdraw troops from Kuwait, the paper added.

Kuwait, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, was the launch pad for the 2003 US-led war on Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. The US army uses it as a logistics base to support troops in Iraq. Camp Arifjan is located in the country's south.

"The network members used Google Earth service to get photographic maps for their targets... Shuaiba refinery, Arifjan Camp and the state security building," the paper said.

Al Qaeda has waged attacks in Kuwait in recent years such as bombings of foreign housing complexes and oil sites in several Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, but a crackdown by governments in the region has succeeded in preventing fresh violence. - Reuters