Kuwait names Saudi man as suicide bomber in mosque attack

The Interior Ministry named the bomber as Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen Al Gabbaa and said that he arrived on a flight to Kuwait International Airport at dawn on Friday.

A woman grieves next to coffins of victims of Friday's bombing at the Imam Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, at the international airport in Najaf. –Reuters

Kuwait City - Kuwaiti authorities on Sunday identified the suicide bomber behind an attack on a Shia mosque that killed 27 people as a Saudi citizen who flew into the Gulf nation just hours before he blew himself up.

Police have begun making arrests in connection with Friday’s bombing, which took place at one of Kuwait’s oldest Shia mosques during midday prayers. An affiliate of the Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the blast in the normally peaceful oil-rich nation.

Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen Al Gabbaa

The Interior Ministry named the bomber as Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen Al Gabbaa and said he was born in 1992, making him 22 or 23 years old. It said in a statement carried by the official Kuwait News Agency that he arrived on a flight to Kuwait International Airport at dawn Friday.

Authorities also said they arrested a 25-year-old from Kuwait’s “bidoon” community, identified as Abdulrahman Sabah Eidan Saud, who they say drove the car that brought the bomber to the mosque.

A Kuwaiti man who housed the driver was also taken into custody. The Interior Ministry described him as a follower of “fundamentalist and deviant ideology.”

The government-linked Al Jarida newspaper reported that at least seven suspects had been detained in connection with the attack, which has drawn condemnation from Sunni groups in Kuwait and leaders from across the Middle East.

Officials say 227 people were wounded in the attack.

A local affiliate of the Daesh group calling itself the Najd Province has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

More than a third of Kuwait’s 1.2 million citizens are believed to be Shias.