War on Isis: Kuwait thwarts three Islamic State attack plots says government

Kuwait thwarted three Islamic State attack plots in the Middle Eastern country, including a plan to blow up a Shi'ite mosque. Security forces launched raids that led to the arrest of several Isis members.

"Kuwait security agencies have carried out three pre-emptive operations in Kuwait and abroad that led to derailing a number of Islamic State (IS) plots targeting Kuwait and arresting several IS members," said an interior ministry statement on state news agency KUNA on Monday 4 July.

According to the agency, in the first operation, security agencies arrested Isis member Talal Naif Raja, a Kuwaiti who was planning to carry several bombings against a Jaafari mosque in Hawali Governorate and a Ministry of Interior's facility.

Raja confessed he had sworn allegiance to the terrorist organisation and was planning to execute his attack at the end of Ramadan or during the first days of Eid Al-Fitr.

In the second operation, security agencies captured Kuwaiti Mohammad Omar, his mother Kuwaiti Hessa Abdullah Mohammad, and his Syrian son from abroad. The interior ministry stated that it took several attempts to bring the three back to Kuwait from the Syrian-Iraqi border. Omar confessed he had left the UK to join Isis at the encouragement of his mother, who had also encouraged his brother Abdullah to join. Abdullah was reportedly killed in Iraq.

In the final operation, security agencies reportedly "busted" a four-member Isis cell in Kuwait, KUNA reported. The two arrested were Kuwaiti, identified as Mubarak Fahad Mubarak and Abdullah Mubarak Mohammad, while one unidentified citizen of an Asian country and a Gulf national remain at large.

The arrests come a year after Kuwait suffered its deadliest terrorist attack when a Saudi suicide bomber killed 27 people at a packed Shi'ite mosque, for which Isis claimed responsibility.