Kuwait arrests bombing suspects
June 28, 2015
Kuwait's Interior Ministry on Sunday said police had arrested a number of people suspected of being behind the bombing at the Shiite Al-Imam Al-Sadeq mosque.
Official media reported that one of those detained was the man suspected of having transported the suicide bomber to the mosque in Kuwait City, where he blew himself up during Friday prayers, killing 26 and injuring 227 others.
The man was described as a 25-year-old "illegal resident."
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said another detainee was a Kuwaiti man who used his home as a hideout for others involved in the bombing.
Provocative act
The arrests come after funerals were held in Kuwait on Saturday for 18 of the 26 victims of the bombing, which has been claimed by the "Islamic State" (IS) group. The other eight victims, said to be seven Kuwaitis and a Saudi, were sent to be buried in Iraq's Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Gulf officials say the attack was aimed at stirring up sectarian strife in the emirate, where a third of the 1.3 million native population adhere to the Shiite branch of Islam.
IS, a radical Sunni group, considers Shiites to be heretics.
Kuwait has put all security agencies and police on alert following Friday's attack, and the national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp., said on Saturday it had raised security at its facilities to maximum level.
Oil is Kuwait's main source of income and makes up some 90 percent on the country's revenue.
tj/rc (AFP, AP)