Kuwait breaks up new IS cell: ministry

Kuwait City

 Kuwait has broken up a new five-member cell of alleged members of the Islamic State jihadist group one month after a deadly bombing at a Shiite mosque, the interior ministry said Thursday.

 Authorities arrested four men while the fifth was killed in a "terrorist" operation in Iraq, the ministry said in a statement. All the members are thought to be Kuwaiti nationals.

 Four cell members have allegedly taken part in fighting in Iraq, including the member who was killed, while another "facilitated and supported their travel to Iraq to take part in terrorist operations," the ministry said.

 The statement said "the terrorists have confessed to undergoing... advanced training on the use of arms and took part in fighting in Iraq and Syria," where IS controls vast areas.

 All the suspects were born between 1982 and 1990.

 The case has been referred to the public prosecution for legal action, the ministry said without stating when the arrests were made.

 IS claimed a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City in June that killed 26 people and wounded hundreds.

 Authorities have charged 29 people, including seven women, in connection with the worst attack in the oil-rich Gulf state.

 A trial is set to open on August 4, which will see five of the suspects tried in absentia.