Kuwait charges 29 people over deadly Shiite mosque bombing

Kuwait announced on Tuesday that 29 people, most of them residents of this Gulf Arab country, will face trial for last month's suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque that was claimed by the extremist Islamic State group

The Kuwait News Agency reported that those facing trial include seven Kuwaitis and 13 "illegal residents" — a reference to Kuwait's "bidoon" community that is made up largely of desert nomads considered stateless by the government. 

Also facing trial are five Saudis, three Pakistanis and a fugitive whose nationality is not yet known.

They face a range of charges such as illegally possessing explosives, incitement to violence and joining an extremist group.

Kuwaiti officials previously identified the suicide bomber in the attack as Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Gabbaa, a Saudi man in his early twenties who landed in the country just hours before the attack.

The June 26 bombing killed 27 worshippers and wounded at least 200 people. The bombing struck the Imam Sadiq Mosque in Kuwait's capital as Shiite worshippers were preforming the midday Friday prayers.

Saudi authorities said earlier this month that the kingdom was holding three Saudi brothers in connection with the attack in neighboring Kuwait.