Kuwait charges 29 people over Shiite mosque bombing

June 26 suicide attack that killed 27 worshipers, wounded at least 200, claimed by Islamic State

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait announced on Tuesday that 29 people, most of them residents of this Gulf Arab country, will face trial for last month’s suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque that was claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.

The Kuwait News Agency reported that those facing trial include seven Kuwaitis and 13 “illegal residents” — a reference to Kuwait’s “bidoon” community that is made up largely of desert nomads considered stateless by the government. Also facing trial are five Saudis, three Pakistanis and a fugitive whose nationality is not yet known.

They face a range of charges such as illegally possessing explosives, incitement to violence and joining an extremist group.

Kuwaiti officials previously identified the suicide bomber in the attack as Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Gabbaa, a Saudi man in his early twenties who landed in the country just hours before the attack.

The June 26 bombing killed 27 worshipers and wounded at least 200 people. The bombing struck the Imam Sadiq Mosque in Kuwait’s capital as Shiite worshipers were performing the midday Friday prayers.