A handout picture released by the Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA) on June 28, 2015 shows Fahd Suleiman Abdul Mohsen Al-Qabba’a, identified as the suicide bomber who carried out a deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group on the Shi’ite Imam Al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City where he blew himself up, killing 26 and injuring 227 people on June 26, 2015. (AFP Photo/HO/KUNA)
Kuwait City and Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Saudi man who carried out a suicide bombing at a Shi’ite mosque in Kuwait on Friday had no previous terror convictions, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday.
Saudi law enforcement agencies had not previously encountered the man, identified by Kuwaiti authorities as 23-year-old Saudi citizen Fahd Suleiman Abdul Mohsen Al-Qabba’a, in relation to any terrorism-related activities, according to an Interior Ministry statement.
Qabba’a was also not previously recorded as having traveled outside Saudi Arabia.
Twenty-seven people were killed and 277 injured as a result of Friday’s attack on the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in the neighborhood of Sawabir in Kuwait City. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and came on the same day terror attacks occurred in Tunisia and France.
The Interior Ministry also said it was ready to cooperate with Kuwaiti authorities and was currently conducting investigations in Bahrain. Qabba’a flew to the Bahraini capital Manama from Riyadh on Thursday evening via a one-stop Gulf Air flight, arriving in Kuwait at dawn on Friday.
Authorities in Kuwait said on Sunday they had arrested the man who drove Qabba’a to the mosque, where worshippers were conducting Friday congregational prayers. In a statement on Sunday the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said they had searched the driver’s home and found evidence showing he was a follower of “fundamentalist and deviant ideology.” The word “deviant” is often used in Gulf states to describe terrorism-related activities and ideology.
Meanwhile, Qabba’a’s family released a statement on Sunday condemning the attack in Kuwait.
“The entire Qabba’a family throughout the Kingdom strongly condemn this evil and criminal act . . . which this deviant [Fahd Al-Qabba’a] carried out. We declare our innocence of his shameful act and reiterate our love, loyalty and obedience to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques [King Salman Bin Abdulaziz] as well as his Crown Prince [Mohammed Bin Naif] and Deputy Crown Prince [Mohammed Bin Salman],” the family’s statement said.
The family also expressed their condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the attack.
On their social media accounts members of the family said Qabba’a’s extremist religious ideas had caused tensions between him and his relatives.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday, Abdul Rahman Al-Qabba’a, a relative, said that the entire Qabba’a family is “deeply saddened by what Fahd has done.”
Obaid Al-Suhaimi and Mirza Al-Khuwaylidi contributed reporting from Dammam and Kuwait City.