Kuwait identifies Shi'ite mosque attacker as Saudi national

Kuwaiti authorities have revealed the suicide bomber who attacked the Shi'ite mosque killing 27 people during Friday prayers was a Saudi national.

The interior ministry has identified the bomber as Fahd Suliman Abdul-Muhsen al-Qabaa and said he reached Kuwait on the day of the bombing.

"The interior ministry will continue its efforts to uncover the circumstances of this explosion," ministry spokesperson Adel Hashash told the state television.

He arrived at the Kuwait international airport just hours before the explosion took place.

Several suspects are being grilled by the authorities while arrests have also been made. The owner of the car, in which the bomber was driven to the mosque, and the landlord of the house where the attacker stayed, have also been arrested.

"Initial investigations showed that the owner of the house is a supporter of the deviant ideology," said the interior ministry.

The bombing, which targeted one of the country's oldest mosques, was the worst in Kuwait in recent years. This is the first such attack on a Shi'ite mosque in the Sunni-majority Kuwait, where the Shi'ites make anywhere between 15%-30% of the population.

"The huge turnout of mourners shows today, this society rejects all divisions and sectarian rifts. The objective of the criminal terrorist act failed miserably since it sought to sow the seeds of division and sectarian strife," said Speaker of the Parliament Marzouq Al-Ghanim.

The Sunni-dominated Islamic State, which considers Shi'ites as heretics, has claimed responsibility for the attack.