Kuwait City, June 26 (IANS) At least 10 people were killed and dozens of others wounded on Friday in a suicide bomb attack on a Shia mosque which the Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for, media reports said.
The blast rocked the Imam Al-Sadeq Mosque, located in the busy neighbourhood of al-Sawabir of the capital city, Xinhua reported citing the official Kuwait News Agency.
The report said there were a number of casualties and injuries, but it did not give exact figures.
At the explosion scene, local police cordoned off the mosque and the surrounding area, and asked residents to stay away from the site, while ambulances were seen ferrying the wounded to hospitals.
In a statement posted on the internet, the IS terrorist group later claimed responsibility for the deadly attack and said the suicide bomber’s name was Abu Suleiman al-Muwahed, and the target was a “temple of the rejectionists”, which is how the extremist militants refer to Shias.
If proven to be true, then it was not the first time for the IS group to plot and carry out such attacks against Shia mosques. It has claimed responsibility for bombings at two different Shia mosques in neighbouring Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.
On March 20, IS suicide bombers also attacked two mosques in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and Houthi headquarters in the northern Saada province, killing at least 137 people in the attacks, the most deadliest in Yemen for decades.
Casualties were expected to grow as Friday prayers have always been the most attended of the week, while the number of people joining the prayers would increase during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that started on June 18 in the Gulf countries.