IS suicide bomber kills 27, wounds 202 in Kuwait

Police control the crowd in front of the Imam Sadiq Mosque after a bomb explosion, in the Al Sawaber area of Kuwait City June 26, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

KUWAIT CITY - Twenty-seven people were killed in the suicide bombing that targeted a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Kuwait, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency KUNA.

The ministry also said that 202 people were wounded in the attack, which targeted the packed mosque during Friday prayers.

According to the official Kuwait News Agency, a blast rocked the Imam Sadiq Mosque, located in the busy neighborhood of al-Sawabir of the capital city.

At the explosion scene, local police has cordoned off the mosque and the surrounding area, and asked residents to stay away from the site, while ambulances were seen ferrying the wounded.

The IS group has claimed the deadly attack in a statement posted on the Internet, saying that the suicide bomber's name was Abu Suleiman al-Muwahed, and the target was a "temple of the rejectionists," which refers to Shiite Muslims by the extremist militants.

If proven to be true, then it is not the first time for the IS group to plot and carry out such attacks against mosques. It has claimed responsibility for bombings at two different Shiite mosques in neighboring Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

On March 20, IS suicide bombers also attacked two mosques in Yemen's capital Sanaa and Houthi headquarters in the northern Saada province, killing at least 137 people, the most deadliest attacks in Yemen for decades.

Causalities are expected to grow as Friday's midday prayers have always been the most attended of the week, while the number of people joining the prayers would increase during Muslims' holy month of Ramadan that started on June 18.