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Kuwait's authorities identify bomber, key clues of bloody attack

KUWAIT, June 28 (KUNA) -- Since the Friday noon bombing that turned a mosque in downtown Kuwait into a scene of shocked and blood-stained victims and wreckage, Kuwaiti authorities have been engaged in round the clock efforts to uncover culprits and resolve all circumstances surrounding the bloody attack. And these efforts have borne fruits only within hours since the attack.
Latest successful action by the Ministry of Interior was declared earlier on Sunday, when it issued a statement revealing identity of the bomber who had entered Imam Al-Sadqie Mosque in Al-Sawaber, Kuwait City's center, and turned on explosives strapped to his body, killing innocent worshippers performing the Friday prayers.
The ministry said the bomber came to Kuwait by air, at dawn on Friday, only a few hours before he perpetrated his mass-scale crime, killing 27 people and wounding 227 others, including children and elderly. The event has gripped attention of the globe, particularly as the media broadcast pictures of terrorized and shocked citizens, with blood oozing from their cut faces and bodies and soaking their white robes.
The bomber was a Saudi citizen, named Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen Al-Gabbaa, born in 1992, said the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior, command of which had pledged to leave no stone unturned to uncover all the hands involved in the cowardly crime. Al-Gabbaa entered the country at dawn on Friday, only hours before blowing himself up, according to the MoI, adding that he arrived by air, through Kuwait International Airport. The MoI will disclose further information about investigations into the Friday bombing. Security personnel are currently searching for "accomplices in this blatant crime," the statement said.
Kuwait witnessed a horrific bombing attack on Friday, when the suicide attacker entered Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in Al-Sawaber, in the heart of the capital, and set off the explosives strapped to his body. Twenty-seven people died and 227 others were wounded in the fiery attack. Kuwait, yesterday, laid the martyrs to rest, and the top leaders, namely His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, received condolences on the killing of the innocent.
His Highness the Amir has been in the lead, following up on the tragic event since the very first minutes of happening. He had hurriedly gone to the scene after Kuwait City was rocked with the blast, condemning the perpetrators who, through that terrorist action, desperately tried to drive a wedge among the Kuwaitis. Earlier, the authorities announced arresting the owner of the house where Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque bomber's driver was staying. The MoI said the landlord, a Kuwaiti national, is advocate of "fundamentalist and deviant ideology." Authorities will "continue efforts to uncover the conspirators in this criminal act and reveal all of the information and circumstances behind it," the statement added.
This came moments after Abdulrahman Sabah Eidan Saud, an illegal resident, driver of the car which transported the bomber to the target of the attack, was apprehended. He was born in 1989.
Meanwhile, State planes transported eight victims of the deadly mosque attack to the holy Najaf burial site in Iraq with others given the honour of a funeral at the state Grand Mosque.
The Kuwaiti people, in all their sects, have also demonstrated unity, attending the funeral of the martyrs and donating blood to the injured in droves. Kuwaitis and expatriates, in the thousands, attended a burial for some of the martyrs at Al-Sulaibikhat cemetery shortly before attending funeral proceedings at the state Grand Mosque.
These massive throngs of mourners are a vivid testimony to the cohesion of the Kuwaiti people at times of crises, said National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim, who attended the burial.
At the forefront of attendants at the Grand Mosque were His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Parliament Speaker Al-Ghanim. Also paying respects were His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Minister of Amiri Diwan Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
Meanwhile, several Kuwaiti nationals amongst those paying their respect at the Grand Mosque, in remarks to KUNA, expressed their commitment to the nation's solidarity and unity during these troubled times.
Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah had vowed that authorities would catch whoever else was involved in the operation. His words were followed with police reporting that they had located the suicide bomber's car and his personal driver.
"We will cut the evil hand that fiddles with our homeland's security. Kuwait will always be an oasis of safety under our wise leadership," Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled said in a broad security meeting on the incident Saturday.
The Ministry of Interior had also announced locating the car the terrorist bomber used to get to the Imam Al-Sadiq mosque and arrested the car's owner. (end) rk