Blood soaked survivors outside Kuwait’s oldest Shia mosque the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in Al-Sawaber, which was bombed on June 26 (Courtesy M Mousawi)
Elham Asaad Buaras
The suicide terrorist behind an attack on a Shi’a mosque that killed 27 people and injured 227 has been identified as a Saudi national who arrived in the country just hours before he blew himself up on Friday June 26.
At least seven suspects have been detained in connection with the attack, which has been condemned by Sunni groups in Kuwait and leaders across the Middle East.
Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen Al-Gabbaa arrived on a flight to Kuwait International airport at dawn on the Friday.
CCTV footage has emerged of 23 year-old Al-Gabbaa walking slowly out of the car and calmly entering the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in Al-Sawaber, in the heart of the capital.
Wearing a traditional Kuwaiti dishdasha and matching headscarf, his robe appears to bulge at the sides from the explosives vest concealed underneath.
Al-Gabbaa, entered the prayer hall detonated explosives so powerful that it crumbled the walls and shattered car windows down the road.
Survivors mobile phone footages went viral, the gruesome images show mangled bodies of men and boys scattered across prayer mats.
Other photos show dazed, confused and blood soaked worshippers stumbling outside the mosque.
Survivors said about 2,000 people had packed the mosque for Ramadan Friday prayers when Al-Gabbaa detonated his bombs.
Authorities also said they had 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”.
Police have begun making arrests in connection with the bombing, which took place at one of Kuwait’s oldest Shi’a mosques.
The Najd Province, a branch of Daesh, took responsibility for the attack. It issued a statement saying the bombe intentionally targeted the “temple of the rejectionists.”
More than a third of Kuwait’s 1.3 million citizens are believed to be Shi’a Muslims.
Kuwait has passed a law ordering mandatory DNA testing of all its citizens and foreign residents following the deadly mosque bombing.
An estimated 1.3 million citizens and 2.9 million foreigners have to submit their DNA to the Interior Ministry, which was tasked with compiling a comprehensive database of people in the country.
