Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Gabbaa named by interior ministry as suicide bomber behind Friday’s attack in which 27 people died

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Kuwaiti authorities have identified the suicide bomber behind an attack on a Shia mosque that killed 27 people as a Saudi citizen who arrived in the country just hours before he blew himself up.

The interior ministry named the bomber as Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Gabbaa and said he was born in 1992. It said in a statement carried by the official Kuwait News Agency that he arrived on a flight to Kuwait International airport at dawn on Friday.

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 Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the blast in the normally peaceful oil-rich nation.

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.

The Bidoon are descendants of desert nomads and others considered stateless by the government. They have long claimed the government deprives them of citizenship and rights.

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 been condemned by Sunni groups in Kuwait and leaders across the Middle East.

Officials say 227 people were wounded in the attack.

A local affiliate of the Islamic State group calling itself the Najd Province has claimed responsibility for the bombing. The IS group considers Shias to be heretics and is fighting Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.

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