Saudi Brothers Arrested over Kuwait Mosque Bombing

The arrests were made in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after a joint investigation by security authorities in both the countries linked the three brothers “with the parties to the terrorist crime”, Saudi Press Agency reported citing an interior ministry spokesperson.

Kuwait has detained 26 people suspected of involvement in a suicide bombing on a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in June that killed 27 people, a local newspaper reported on Monday, quoting the public prosecutor. He said other suspects, including fighters with Islamic State overseas, have been identified and that some of their relatives inside Kuwait have been charged in connection with the blast.

They left after passing the materials to Abdul-Rahman Sabah Aidan, an illegal resident in Kuwait who reportedly drove the bomber to the mosque and is now in custody, the ministry said.

In Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry said Mohammad Zahrani was arrested in Khafji, another border town near Nuwaiseeb, after a shootout with Saudi security forces.

A fourth brother is a member of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and now lives in Syria, the spokesman added.

The attack has raised concerns about the number of young Saudi men willing to travel to attack Shiites in smaller Gulf Arab states and so make good on a threat by ISIS to step up violence in the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The last massive attack to take place in Kuwait was in 1983, when Iranian-backed Shiite militants from Iraq carried out bombings that killed at least five and wounded almost 90.

Read the original article on Reuters.