Suicide bomber kills 25 in Kuwait attack

A suicide bomber purportedly from an IS affiliate unleashed the first terrorist attack in Kuwait in more than two decades, killing at least 25 people and wounding scores more in a bombing that targeted Shi’ite worshippers after midday prayers.

The bombing struck the Imam Sadiq Mosque in the residential neighbourhood of al-Sawabir in Kuwait’s capital, Kuwait City. It is one of the oldest Shi’ite mosques in Kuwait, a predominantly Sunni Arab nation where at least at third of the population is believed to be Shi’ite Muslims.

It was the third attack in five weeks to be claimed by a purported IS affiliate calling itself the Najd Province, a reference to the central region of Saudi Arabia where the ultra-conservative Sunni ideology of Wahhabism originated.

The upstart IS branch had claimed two prior bombing attacks on Shi’ite mosques in Saudi Arabia that killed 26 people in late May. The group was unheard of until the first Saudi bombing.

The attack took place as worshippers were standing shoulder to shoulder in group prayer, according to one of the witnesses at the mosque, Hassan al-Haddad.

The explosion ripped through the back of the mosque, near the door, he said, adding that other worshippers behind him said they saw a man walk in, stand in the back with other congregants and detonate his device.

Another witness, Ahmed al-Shawaf, said he heard a man interrupt prayer by shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Great” in Arabic, several times. The man then yelled out something about joining the Prophet Muhammad for iftar, the dusk meal with which Muslims break their daytime fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, which started last week. Then, the blast came, al-Shawaf said.

The explosion took place near the end of a second prayer, which is traditional to Shi’ites and follows the main midday Friday prayer.

The Ministry of Interior said 25 people were killed and 202 wounded.

A posting on a Twitter account known to belong to the IS group claimed the explosion was work of a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt. It said the attack was carried out by the Najd Province, which also claimed the Saudi bombings.

IS regards Shi’ite Muslims as heretics and calls them “rafideen” or “rejectionists.”