Kuwait City - A 23-year-old Kuwaiti woman has confessed to setting a deadly blaze at her ex-husband's wedding celebration, Kuwait's al-Qabas newspaper reported Monday.

The woman told police poured gasoline around a tent reserved for women celebrating her ex-husband's marriage in the town of Jahra and set it ablaze, killing more than
40 people and injuring 80 others on Saturday, al-Qabas reported.

A Kuwaiti Interior Ministry spokesman told reporters that they believed the fire was a case of arson and that they had identified a suspect, but refused to elaborate.

Al-Qabas said the police had been tipped off by the woman's domestic worker. The satellite news network al-Arabiya, on the other hand, said the domestic servant had set the fire at the woman's behest.

The new bride was unharmed, but her mother and sister were killed in the inferno, the Kuwait Times reported. (dpa)