KUWAIT. Oct 9: Firefighters have capped nearly 80 per cent of Kuwait's burning oil wells, damaged or set alight by retreating Iraqi troops, a Kuwait Oil Co official was quoted on Tuesday as saying, reports Reuter.

Local newspapers quoted Saud Al-Nashmi, in charge of firefighting efforts, as saying that by Monday only- 160 more wells remained to be capped.

Iraqi forces set fire to and damaged 732 wells in February.

Kuwait expects all the wells to be capped by the end of the year but firefighters say their mission could be over before that. The Emirate had earlier set next March as the target date.