Kuwaiti Shia mosque attack: Death toll rises to 27, 227 wounded; IS claims responsibility

Kuwait City: The Islamic State group claimed a suicide bombing that ripped through a Shia mosque in Kuwait on Friday that the interior ministry said killed 25 people.

In a statement on the official KUNA news agency, the ministry said that 202 people were wounded in the unprecedented attack. Medical sources had given an earlier toll of 13 dead.

Health Minister Ali al-Obaidi told Kuwait Television the number of dead had risen to 27 in addition to 227 wounded in the first ever suicide attack on Shiite mosques in the oil-rich emirate.

The IS-affiliated group in Saudi Arabia, calling itself Najd Province, said militant Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid carried out the attack on the mosque, which it claimed was spreading Shiite teachings among Sunni Muslims.

IS, a radical Sunni Muslim group, considers Shiites to be heretics.

The attack happened during Friday prayers and was carried out by a suicide bomber, a security official told AFP.

“It is a suicide bombing,” the official said.

Witnesses gave a similar account, saying a suicide bomber entered the mosque during the weekly noon prayers.

An explosion ripped through a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital during the main weekly prayers on Friday causing casualties, witnesses and a security official said.

Footage from the scene shows several bodies on the floor of the Imam Sadiq mosque amid debris http://t.co/S6gyUHK6sZ pic.twitter.com/jSC3ccjSS1

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 26, 2015

The blast hit Al-Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, the sources told AFP, without being able to provide an immediate toll.

The Islamic State group has claimed similar bombings targeting Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in recent weeks.

AFP and PTI