Bahrain dismisses US terror alert
Bahrain’s parliament has dismissed a recent spate of US warnings about imminent ‘terror attacks’ in the tiny Gulf state.
“The security situation is very stable in Bahrain, due to the democratic climate in the kingdom,” the parliament said in a statement on Saturday.
The parliament “refused to consider this warning as the sign of a direct terrorist threat for the foreign citizens or residents” of Bahrain.
It described the US warning as a “normal measure that any state takes faced with hostile terrorist actions”.
Pullout
On Friday, Washington authorised a temporary pullout of dependents of its military personnel and non-emergency defence officials from Bahrain in view of heightened alerts.
The pullout authorisation came a day after the US State Department issued a travel advisory urging US nationals to defer travel to the Gulf state.
Bahrain is the home port of the US Fifth Fleet and hosts some 5000 Americans, most of them military personnel.
The US acknowledges Bahrain as a “major non-NATO ally”.