5 suspects in Kuwait mosque attack face legal action

Kuwait’s interior ministry on Monday referred five suspects linked to the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque to the prosecution service for legal action, a security official said.

“We have referred five suspects accused of assisting the suicide bomber to the public prosecution,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. They include the driver who took the Saudi bomber to the mosque and the car’s owner and his brother, all stateless people or <g data-gr-id="27">bidoons</g>.

They also include two Kuwaiti citizens -- the owner of the house used as a hideout for the driver, and his brother, the official said.

“More suspects are expected to be referred later,” he added.

Security agencies have rounded up an unspecified number of suspects in connection with Friday’s blast that killed 26 people dead wounded 227. 

The public prosecution will now interrogate the suspects and then refer them for trial.

Kuwait’s security agencies have “revised security plans and measures following the attack”, said the official, adding that the new measures involve boosting security in general and around mosques in particular.

The Islamic State group’s Saudi affiliate, the so-called Najd Province, claimed the bombing and identified the assailant as Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid. Kuwaiti authorities yesterday said the real name of the bomber was Fahd Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-<g data-gr-id="29">Qaba’a</g>, who was born in 1992.

He entered the country through Kuwait Airport at dawn on Friday, the day of the bombing. A handout photograph of <g data-gr-id="26">Qaba’a</g> showed a young bearded man wearing a traditional Saudi headdress.

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry, meanwhile, said that it has no records of the bomber who flew to Kuwait via Bahrain on the day of the attack.