An Islamic State suicide bomber struck a Shiite mosque in the Kuwaiti capital during Friday prayers, killing 27 people as the Gulf state declared an "all-out confrontation" with terrorism. 

Health Minister Ali al-Obaidi told the state-run Kuwait Television the number of dead had risen to 27 in addition to 222 wounded in the first ever suicide attack on Shiite mosques in the oil-rich emirate.

A lawmaker from Kuwait's Shiite Muslim minority resigned Wednesday after a Sunni MP insulted him during a heated exchange in parliament.

"I was deeply hurt... by the contempt and insult against my religious sect by my colleague, Hamdan al-Azemi," Faisal al-Duwaisan wrote in his resignation letter.

A Kuwaiti court sentenced a female rights activist to three years in jail on Sunday after convicting her in absentia of publicly criticizing the oil-rich Gulf state's ruler.

The lower court convicted Rana Jassem al-Saadun of repeating parts of a speech made by prominent opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak for which he is serving a two-year jail term, according to the ruling.

Human Rights Watch urged the ruler of Kuwait on Thursday to waive a six-year jail sentence against a blogger for criticizing neighboring Saudi Arabia on Twitter.

The supreme court last week upheld the sentence against Saleh al-Saeed who tweeted comments on a row between the Gulf neighbors over a halt to shared oil production from the neutral zone between them and on the hostile Gulf position towards the Syrian regime.

Kuwait will be installing surveillance cameras in public places such as malls, supermarkets and hotels to boost security because of concerns about crime and terrorism, following parliament's unanimous adoption of a bill Tuesday.

Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled al-Sabah said the legislation was needed to boost security and prevent crimes, assuring lawmakers that individual privacy will not be compromised.

Muslim countries must increase measures to fight extremism, Kuwait's emir said Wednesday, at the start of a conference aimed at combatting the spread of jihadist organisations such as the Islamic State group.

"We are required to intensify efforts with the world to combat terrorism being waged by terrorist organisations," Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah told attendees at a conference of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The Kuwaiti lower court on Tuesday overturned a decision by the Gulf state's government to revoke the citizenship of a former Islamist opposition lawmaker and his family, his lawyer said.

"Thank God, the court has scrapped the decision and restored the citizenship of the Barghash family," lawyer Al-Humaidi al-Subaie wrote on his Twitter account.

Kuwait's richest independent businessman, Jassem al-Khorafi, who served as speaker of the Gulf emirate's parliament for a decade, has died at the age of 75, his family said Friday.

Kuwaiti media said he had suffered a heart attack while flying home from a private visit to Turkey.

Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned a Kuwaiti court ruling to uphold a two-year jail term against opposition leader and former parliamentarian Musallam al-Barrak for insulting the emir.

"Kuwait's authorities should ensure his conviction and sentence are quashed and that he is not returned to prison," said the London-based rights watchdog.

Parliament on Tuesday rejected a demand by a Shiite MP to question the foreign minister over Kuwait's participation in Saudi-led air strikes against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen.

A majority of lawmakers approved Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah's stand that questioning on the Yemen war would breach the constitution.