Bahrain arrests dozens over deadly bomb blast
Government lists protest groups as “terrorist organisations” in response to explosion that killed three police officers.
Bahrain has arrested 25 people and listed a prominent protest network as a “terrorist organisation”, after a deadly bomb attack that killed three police officers.
The interior minister, Sheik Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, announced the arrests on Tuesday in a televised address.
He called Monday’s bombing and another attack that killed a police officer last month a reminder “of the high level of danger” facing the country.
“Indeed, these terror acts are premeditated murder and represent a lack of humanity,” he said.
The Cabinet also named three groups; the February 14 coalition, al-Ashtar Brigades and Resistance Brigades along with any related groups as “terrorist organisations”, according to a report by the official state news agency.
It said authorities intended to take necessary legal procedures “to dissolve them and arrest their members”.
The February 14 group is a loosely affiliated activist network named after the start of the 2011 uprising, and has helped promote and organise demonstrations.
Little is known about the al-Ashtar Brigades and Resistance Brigades, though the former has claimed it carried out attacks in Bahrain in the past.
The report did not say why the three groups had been singled out.
The policemen killed on Monday were dispersing a protest by anti-government activists. Among the dead was an officer from the United Arab Emirates.
Bahrain has experienced three years of unrest, with a Shia-dominated opposition movement demanding greater political rights from the Sunni monarchy.