(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Kuwait will hold a mass funeral Saturday for 26 victims of a Shiite mosque bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group as the shocked oil-rich emirate tightens security.
The interior ministry said in a statement early Saturday that 26 people and the suicide bomber were killed and 227 others were wounded in one of the country's worst bombings and its first ever on a mosque.
The attack targeted Al-Imam Al-Sadeq mosque in the capital Kuwait City during Friday noon prayers.
The mosque authorities said in a statement that "Kuwait martyrs" will be laid to rest at the Shiite cemetery, west of the capital, at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).
It said that condolences would be accepted for three days starting on Saturday at the Grand Mosque, the largest place of worship for Sunni Muslims, in a show of solidarity.
Kuwait's emir, the government, parliament and political groups and clerics have said the attack was aimed at stirring sectarian strife in the emirate.
Sunni religious and political groups were quick to condemn the attack carried out by the Islamic State, a radical Sunni group which considers Shiites to be heretics.
Shiites form a third of Kuwait's 1.3 million native population.
The interior ministry has said an unspecified number of suspects were held for questioning in connection with the attack that shook the small Gulf state. No details were provided.
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