(MENAFN- Arab Times) Three Saudi brothers have been arrested in connection with the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in Kuwait last month, the Saudi and Kuwaiti authorities said on Tuesday. The attack during Friday prayers, which killed 27 people including the bomber, appeared aimed at stoking sectarian hatred in the energy- rich Gulf.
Islamic State claimed responsibility. The three brothers were "parties to the crime of the sinful terrorist bombing that targeted the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in Kuwait," the SPA state news agency cited a security spokesman for the Saudi interior ministry as saying.
Two of the suspects, Majed and Mohammed Abdullah al- Zahrani, drove across the border into Kuwait on Thursday afternoon carrying the explosives for the attack in an ice cooler, Kuwait's Interior Ministry said in a statement.
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. Investigators found the explosives were of the same type used in two suicide bombings on May 22 and May 29 against Shiite mosques in eastern Saudi Arabia, where the bulk of the kingdom's Shiite minority lives, according to the ministry.
Majed Abdullah was arrested in the western Saudi city of Taif while Mohammed was taken into custody after a shootout at a house near the Kuwaiti border in which two policemen were wounded.
A third brother, whom the ministries did not name and whose precise role was not described, was arrested in Kuwait and extradited to Saudi Arabia.
A fourth brother lives in Syria and is a member of Islamic State, SPA cited the Saudi security spokesman as saying.
The bombing was Kuwait s deadliest militant attack and the most lethal in any of the six Gulf Arab states since a campaign of al-Qaeda bombings was stamped out in Saudi Arabia a decade ago. 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 Islamic State to step up violence in the Holy fasting Month of Ramadan. The Saudi branch of the militant group has said it wants to clear the Arabian Peninsula of Shiites and has urged young men in the kingdom to join its cause.
Meanwhile, Kuwait s Interior Ministry has introduced a series of security measures to tighten security in the country following the terrorist attack carried by DAESH in the country, reports Al- Shahed daily. According to reliable security sources the State Security police have compiled a list of 117 terrorists from the Gulf and Arab countries.
The sources added, the list was compiled after cooperation with the intelligence services of the sisterly and friendly countries. The daily added, arrest warrants have also been issued against 3,470 people of various nationalities who are believed to be outside Kuwait.
The sources noted the State Security men raided some houses in Mubarak Al- Kabir, Jahra and Ahmadi which resulted in the arrest of 2 Kuwaitis believed to be members of DAESH and seized from one of them weapons and material which confirms his membership in the terrorist organization.
The Public Prosecution has decided to detain the 56-year-old mother of Abdulrahman Sabah Edan, the driver of the vehicle that transported the suicide bomber Fahad Suleiman Al-Qaba'a to Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque on Friday, June 26, for investigations even though it had released her just few days ago. According to sources, the woman was re-summoned on Monday after her son revealed during investigations that his mother followed his instructions and destroyed his mobile phones and computers in the house.
Public Prosecution accused her of hiding her son from security authorities and burying evidences of her son's affiliation to DAESH which is considered as a State Security crime. In another development, security authorities have launched an investigation to determine the authenticity of a picture, which has been circulating on social networking websites, of a 'Lexus' car with a sticker of the DAESH flag at a petrol station in Jahra area. A security source affirmed that investigations are ongoing to determine if the picture is real or fabricated so that necessary legal procedures can be taken accordingly.
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