Kuwait deplores 'terror' eulogy

The Kuwait event echoed much larger ceremonies in Lebanon

Kuwaiti officials have criticised Shia Muslims in the emirate who eulogised Lebanese militant Imad Mughniyeh who died in a car bomb in Syria last week.

Hundreds of members of Kuwait's Shia minority gathered on Saturday to hail Mughniyeh as a martyr and hero.

The cabinet branded the late Hezbollah commander "a terrorist whose hands have been stained with martyrs' blood".

Kuwait, a key US ally, accuses him of hijacking a Kuwaiti jet in 1988 in which two Kuwaiti nationals died.

The Cabinet said the Shia eulogy "provoked" Kuwaitis and said the government has taken "legal measures that would safeguard national unity".

A Shia MP was quoted telling mourners that there had been no evidence against Mughniyeh for the 1988 hijacking.

Hezbollah's membership is mainly made up of Lebanese Shia Muslim. Its activities, including the 2006 war with Israel, have been condemned by staunchly Sunni Muslim regimes in the Gulf.

Hezbollah's Manar TV reported there was a similar show of support among people in Bahrain, where Shia Muslims make up a majority of the native population.