Bangladesh's Ambassador to Kuwait Nazrul Islam Khan said two Bangladeshi civilians visiting the Embassy were slightly injured. Most of the attackers fled before the police arrived, but some were apprehended, he added.

Journalists at the site reported widespread destruction. Windows, doors, furniture and computers had been smashed, and official papers including passports and tourist posters littered the floor. Some cars parked outside the embassy were also damaged.

Most of the estimated 170,000 Bangladeshi labourers in Kuwait are unskilled labourers, who complain regularly about not being paid.  

Khan said he did not know why the labourers had attacked the embassy, but he said he was sure they were people ''who were suffering".

Bangladeshi workers regularly came to the embassy to complain about their employers' failure to pay them, but ''this time nobody came to discuss it," he said.

The protest seemed well organised because the workers arrived in buses, he added. After their arrival, the workers threw rocks at the embassy windows, and entered the premises after overpowering the guards. They also smashed the windows of five cars parked outside the embassy.