Kuwait says it executed 5 prisoners together with an inmate convicted over the bombing of a Shiite mosque in 2015 that killed 27 folks and was claimed by the Islamic State group
ByNICK EL HAJJ Related Press
FILE – Hundreds of Sunnis and Shiites from throughout the nation participate in a mass funeral procession for 27 folks killed in a suicide bombing, on the Grand Mosque in Kuwait Metropolis, Kuwait, on June 27, 2015. Kuwait stated Thursday, July 27, 2023, it executed 5 prisoners, together with an inmate convicted over the Islamic State group-claimed mosque bombing in 2015. (AP Photograph, File)
The Related Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait stated Thursday it executed 5 prisoners, together with an inmate convicted over the bombing of a Shiite mosque in 2015 that killed 27 folks and was claimed by the Islamic State group.
The inmates had been hanged on the Central Jail, Kuwait’s Public Prosecution stated in an announcement. Prosecutors stated the 5 embody the mosque attacker, three folks convicted of homicide and a convicted drug seller.
One of many convicted murderers was Egyptian, one other was Kuwaiti, and the convicted drug seller was from Sri Lanka. The assertion did not present the nationality of the mosque attacker or the third convicted assassin, saying solely that they had been in Kuwait unlawfully.
The 2015 bombing occurred throughout noon Friday prayers inside considered one of Kuwait’s oldest Shiite mosques. The Islamic State group, which on the time managed giant areas in each Syria and Iraq, claimed the assault. The Sunni extremist group views Shiites as apostates deserving of demise.
It was the primary militant assault in Kuwait, a small oil-rich nation, in additional than twenty years. The assault was probably supposed to foment unrest between Kuwait’s Sunni and Shiite populations, however as an alternative it backfired, reawakening a way of nationwide solidarity not seen since Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion.
The extremist group now not controls any territory following a grueling navy marketing campaign by an array of forces, however continues to hold out sporadic assaults in Syria and Iraq. It additionally boasts associates in a number of Asian and African international locations.
Executions are comparatively uncommon in Kuwait, which put seven inmates to demise final November. Earlier than that, the final one was in 2017, when it executed seven prisoners, together with a ruling member of the family.