Kuwait mosque attack shocks Muslims

OnIslam & News Agencies

KUWAIT CITY – A suicide attack that hit a Kuwaiti Shiite mosque during Friday prayers and left dozens killed and injured provoked strong reaction and condemnation from leading Muslim scholars.

“#Tunisia Solidarity with the Tunisian people and the families of victims. Condolences and Consternation,” Dr Tariq Ramadan wrote on Facebook .

“Our world is going crazy and some people are carried away by mad and insane drifts.”

Muslims scholar Tarq Al-Suwaidan echeod similar concerns.

“Such consecutive attacks that target mosques are un-Islamic and aim at distorting the image of the faith,” Al-Suwaidan posted on his Facebook page.

“I call everybody to stand up against such criminal gangs that commit un-justified carnages propelled by sectarianism.”

Al-Suwaidan was condemning today’s terror attack that left at least 24 killed and several injured at the Imam Sadiq Mosque that was packed with some 2,000 worshippers during Friday prayers.

An affiliated group of the so-called Islamic State (ISIL) claimed responsibility of the suicide bombing in a statement posted on social media.

Indentifying the suicide bomber, ISIL referred to him as Abu Suleiman al-Muwahedm, saying the target was a “temple of the rejectionists”, a term used by the Islamist militant group to refer to Shiite Muslims.

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah rushed to the scene before calling an emergency cabinet and parliamentary meetings.

On his part, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah said that today’s attack in the capital was an attempt to “threaten” the country’s national unity.

“This incident targets our internal front, our national unity,” Sheikh Jaber told Reuters after visiting the wounded at the Emiri hospital.

“But this is too difficult for them and we are much stronger than that.”

Calls for unity were also echoed by Kuwaiti politicians.

“Today we are all united in the face of terrorism and takfirist,” member of parliament Saleh Ashoor said, Gulf News reported.

Condemnations

Deploring the terrorist attack, several Muslim scholars took to social media to condemn the ISIL-sponsored assault that targeted Kuwaiti Shiites.

“Choosing a place like a mosque and occasion like the holy fasting month of Ramadan exposes the infidelity of those perpetrators who slain innocent people,” Dr. Khaled Al Mazkor, a Muslim scholar wrote on Twitter.

A similar condemnation was shared by the Muslim scholar Salman Al Oudah.

Meanwhile, neighboring countries like Jordan vehemently condemned the terror attack.

According to the official Jordan News Agency, State Minister for Media Affairs, Mohammad al-Momani said “Jordan will always stand by Kuwait against terrorism which targets its security and stability.”

Friday’s attack on the Kuwait mosque is a part of ISIL terror attacks that targeted Shiites mosques in Yemen and Saudi Arabia over the past weeks.

The suicide attack at the Kuwaiti Shiite mosque comes as dozens were killed in a similar deadly terror attack in Tunisia on Friday, June 26.

At least 27 people died when gunmen opened fire on a seaside hotel in Tunisia, according to authorities.

“A terrorist infiltrated the buildings from the back before opening fire on the residents of the hotel, including foreigners and Tunisians,” Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Laroui was quoted by USA Today.

Three months ago, at least 23 killed in an ISIL-claimed attack that targeted Bardo Museum in Tunis.

The assault was the most deadly involving foreigners in Tunisia since the 2002 suicide bombing in Djerba.