IS affiliate hits Shiite mosque in Kuwait, killing 27 people

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — A suicide bomber purportedly from an Islamic State affiliate unleashed the first terrorist attack in Kuwait in more than two decades on Friday, killing at least 27 people and wounding scores more in a bombing that targeted Shiite worshippers after midday prayers.

The attack, which hit the capital of Kuwait City, was one of three deadly attacks from Europe to the Middle East on Friday that followed the Islamic State group's call for violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The bombing struck the Imam Sadiq Mosque in the residential neighborhood of al-Sawabir, one of the oldest Shiite mosques in this predominantly Sunni Arab nation where at least at third of the population is believed to be Shiite Muslim.

A posting on a Twitter account known to belong to the IS affiliate that calls itself the Najd Province claimed the explosion was the work of a suicide bomber.

The last massive attack here was in 1983, when Iranian-backed Shiite militants from Iraq carried out bombings that killed at least five people and targeted Western embassies.

Kuwaiti Shiites hold seats in the elected parliament as well as Cabinet posts, and unlike their counterparts in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, have not complained of severe discrimination.

Jasim al-Awadh, who rushed to the mosque to try and help with the wounded, said the government should have increased security measures around Shiite places of worship in Kuwait after the attacks in Saudi Arabia.