The main suspect in a deadly attack on a Kuwaiti Shiite mosque in June confessed in court today to being in the jihadist Islamic State group.
Abdulrahman Sabah Saud told the first hearing of the trial of 22 men and seven women that he joined IS just a day before the June 26 suicide bombing that killed 26 people and wounded hundreds.
It was the worst ever attack in the oil-rich Gulf emirate.
Although the public prosecution has not released the official charge sheets, a number of defendants are charged with being in a proscribed group and taking part in the bombing.
Most are also accused of assisting those behind the attack.
Saud, who drove Saudi bomber Fahad al-Qaba'a to the mosque in Kuwait City, was arrested two days after the blast in a hideout owned by two other suspects.
Saud also confessed to transporting an icebox containing the explosives belt used in the attack from near the border with Saudi Arabia.
The icebox was delivered by two Saudi brothers who are now in custody in Saudi Arabia along with a third brother who was arrested in Kuwait.
Saud said he met the bomber late on the Thursday night, a day before the attack, at the airport and took him to a five-star hotel.
At 2:30 the next morning, he took him to a restaurant for a pre-fasting meal and then returned him to the hotel.
Later on Friday morning, Saud said he brought the bomber to his home in Sulaibiya, 20 kilometres southwest of Kuwait City where he shaved off his long beard and put on the explosives belt.
