GCC slams IS mosque bombings

03rd, July 2015  

Kuwait — Interior ministers of the Gulf states on Friday vowed to take a united stand against a string of deadly bombings targeting mosques claimed by the IS. Oman’s Minister of Interior Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal al Busaidy, Saudi Crown Prince and Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Qatar’s Prime Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Nasser al Thani were among GCC ministers present at the meeting.

Holding an emergency meeting in Kuwait, the scene of the latest suicide attack that killed 26 people last Friday, the ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states stressed the attacks are a threat to the stability of the region.

Around 50 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in suicide attacks on three mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the past two months, all claimed by IS.

The ministers “underscored the importance of coordination and cooperation in all measures and steps in confronting this serious epidemic… which is a threat to the security and stability of the GCC states,” said a statement issued after the night meeting.

The statement called the attacks “criminal acts not linked with Islam and its values, which renounce violence and the killing of innocents,” but did not spell out any new measures to stop them.

“Terrorist attacks that targeted places of worship aim at sowing dissent, promoting divisions, undermining security and terrorising and killing innocent people,” the statement said. The ministers also expressed sympathy with Kuwait, which suffered the worst attack in its history last week with a suicide bombing that left 26 people dead and 227 others wounded.

The IS group’s Saudi affiliate, the so-called Najd Province, claimed the two bombings in Saudi Arabia and the attack in Kuwait.

The group has threatened to carry out more attacks in the two countries and also threatened Bahrain.

Residents reported a string of security steps in Kuwait and in Bahrain, where an unverified Twitter message by a prominent IS militant, Turki al Binali, suggested the island kingdom would be the destination of the next suicide bomber. Bahrain had recruited “security volunteers” to coordinate entry of worshippers into mosques and to prevent crowds from gathering and obstructing movement in case of any incidents, state news agency BNA reported. On Wednesday, Kuwait parliament approved $400 million (360 million euros) in emergency funding for the interior ministry.