Kuwait City, June 27 (IANS): Eighteen suspects were arrested following a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque here that killed 27 people and left 222 wounded on Friday, a media report said on Saturday.

After holding an emergency meet on Friday, the cabinet declared Saturday as the national day of mourning, the Kuwait Times reported.

A suicide bomber sneaked into the Imam Al-Sadeq Mosque near Kuwait's famous Al-Sawaber district at the end of Friday afternoon prayers.

Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah visited the mosque, located a few buildings away from the interior ministry.

Kuwait's former information minister Saad al-Ajmi said the attack was a reminder that no country was "immune from terrorism".

The attack was designed to threaten national security, and break national unity, Yaaqoub al-Sanae, the minister for Awqaf and Islamic affairs said.

It was the first suicide bombing attack on a Shia mosque in the Gulf Arab state.

The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.