Terror attacks rock France, Tunisia and Kuwait; leave 41 dead

A terrorist attack in a factory in France left one person dead while a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City during Friday prayer, and in Tunisia an armed insurgent opened fire in a beach hotel killing dozens, all in a day, pointing to the grave threat that extremists posed to the world.

A bomb blast tore through a mosque in Kuwait's capital during Friday prayers, killing and injuring several worshippers, state media reported.

ISIS claimed responsibility for what it called a suicide bombing at the Shiite-affiliated Al-Sadiq mosque. The group put the number of dead and injured in the dozens.

Cell phone video clips posted on social media showed worshippers walking and stumbling through a dust-and rubble-filled interior, many with their white robes splattered in what appeared to be blood.

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah toured the damaged mosque ahead of emergency cabinet and parliamentary meetings, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

The country's justice and Islamic affairs minister Yaqoub Al-Sanea called the attack "a terrorist and criminal act that threatens our security and targets our national unity," the news agency said.

In Tunisia, in North Africa, the terrorists chose the Imperial Marhaba hotel in Sousse town, a popular tourist destination, for the attack. Tunisian interior ministry said at least 27 people, including guests, were killed when a man armed with an assault rifle opened fire.

The gunman was shot dead in an exchange orf fire with the security officials. However, it is not clear whether there were other assailants.

Several reports described scenes of panic and confusion after the shooting at the hotel which is located 140 km south of the national capital of Tunis.

There were no details about the nationalities of the victims, but during Ramadan Tunisia's Muslim population is less likely to go to beaches, so those there would have been predominantly foreign tourists.

In France, a suspected Islamist attacker pinned a decapitated head daubed with Arabic to the gates of a gas factory in the eastern part of the country. The man entered the factory and set off a small explosion, but was arrested by the police.

Meanwhile in Kuwait, the Islamic State group claimed a suicide bombing that ripped through a Shiite mosque. The bombing left at least 13 people dead, the medics said.

The IS-affiliated group in Saudi Arabia, calling itself Najd Province, said militant Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid carried out the attack on the mosque, which it claimed was spreading Shiite teachings among Sunni Muslims.

Since overthrowing its secular dictator in 2011, Tunisia has been plagued by terrorist attacks though only recently have they targeted the vital tourism sector.