A Bahrain survivor of a suicide attack on a packed mosque in Kuwait City that left 27 people dead and more than 200 injured has described his ordeal.

Shaikh Saud Mohammed Ali Al Saeed, 62, told the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication, how he was just finishing prayers at Imam Al Sadiq Mosque in the Al Sawaber district on Friday when in the blink of an eye, smoke began to fill the room.

He was standing in the centre of the prayer hall, just metres away from where the bomber struck.

“Suddenly everything around us turned grey,” he said.

“I couldn’t see the bodies lying around – all I could see were the destroyed walls and ceiling.

“Even that was horrifying, so I ran without looking back – just looking for a way to get out of the building.”

Shaikh Al Saeed said he could hear the calls of people looking for their friends and family as he searched for an exit to the mosque.

“It was chaotic when I got outside and we were all waiting for the police and the ambulance to arrive,” he said.

“One of the survivors was screaming for his father who he said had died inside the mosque.”

Shaikh Al Saeed, who was in Kuwait on a visit, said no security checks had been carried out on worshippers before they entered the mosque that day.

“There was only two security vehicles when I entered the mosque,” he said.

Security

“No one was inspected or else it would have been easy to spot and arrest the bomber.

“It is time for us to start stepping up security in mosques in Bahrain and across the region to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.”

Thousands of people took part in a mass funeral procession in Kuwait yesterday as a national day of mourning was declared following the attack.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack. – TradeArabia News Service