Six held over allegations of providing support to terrorist group, with four supposed members – including two Australians – said to be outside Kuwait

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A group has been arrested in Kuwait, accused of being members of an extremist network that supplied funds and weapons, including rockets, to Islamic State militants, the state news agency Kuna quoted the interior ministry as saying on Thursday.

The group included a Lebanese, an Egyptian, three Syriansand a Kuwaiti national, Kuna said. Two Australian-Lebanese joint nationals and two Syrians accused of being part of the group are said to be outside the country.

Kuna said one of the members coordinated the transfer of militants abroad and was a financier who sent money to accounts in Turkey and Australia, and that another member was a weapons dealer.

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The Gulf country suffered its worst militant attack at the hands of Islamic State in June, when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, killing 27 people.

Several suspected Isis members and sympathisers were tried over the attack. A court sentenced seven men to death and jailed eight others for between two and 15 years for assisting the Saudi bomber.

An appeals court is to issue its verdict in the case on 13 December.

Kuwait cracked down on Islamist militants after the bombing. Officials say the bombing was aimed at stoking strife between Sunnis and Shi’ites in the majority Sunni Muslim state, where the two sects have usually coexisted in peace.

Earlier this month, the lower court sentenced five men to 10 years in jail each for raising funds for Isis.

They were charged with raising about 400,000 Kuwaiti dinars ($1.3m US) and sending it to Isis.

The United States and other Western countries have criticised Kuwait for what they have described as a permissive approach to militant financing.