Amir raps Bahrain attack
KUWAIT CITY, June 19, (Agencies): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent Monday a cable to Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, expressing his condolences over the victims of the terror bombing in Manama on Monday.
In the cable, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah displayed Kuwait’s strongest condemnation towards the attack that led to the death and injury of several security personnel.
His Highness the Amir also said that Kuwait will stand against those eager to cause terror and instability in Bahrain, affirming that Kuwaitis were standing in solidarity with the Bahraini leadership and people.
His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah also sent similar cables to the Bahraini Monarch.
A “terrorist” bomb attack in a Shiite village in Bahrain has killed a policeman and wounded two others, the interior ministry in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom said on Monday.
The attack late Sunday occurred in Diraz, west of the capital Manama, the ministry said on its Twitter account.
Witnesses said they heard a loud blast near the home of revered Shiite cleric Isa Qassim, where five people were killed last month when security forces opened fire to disperse a sit-in.
Police blocked all entries into the village after the bombing, witnesses said, adding security forces have been maintaining a cordon around Qassim’s house since the protest dispersal.
Qassim is considered to be the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s majority Shiite community.
The Bahrain authorities sentenced Qassim in May to a suspended oneyear jail term for illegal fundraising and money laundering.
A court last year stripped him of his citizenship, sparking repeated sit-ins outside his residence in Diraz.
The kingdom has been rocked by unrest since 2011, when security forces boosted by Gulf troops crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.
Foreign press access is severely restricted in the archipelago, which is located between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Monday also strongly condemned the recent bombings that occurred in Cairo and Bahrain’s Diraz Village, which led to the death and injury of a number of innocent people.
The OIC said in a press release that these “terrorist acts” are aimed at undermining the security and stability of both Arab and Muslim countries, and intimidating innocent people.
It reiterated its solidarity with the governments of Egypt and Bahrain following the recent attacks, and reaffirmed its principled and constant position which denounces terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
The OIC also expressed sincere wishes for a speedy recovery for those injured in both attacks.
Earlier on Sunday, the Bahraini Interior Ministry announced that a policeman was killed and another two wounded in a bomb attack in Al-Draz village, northern of the capital Manama.
Egyptian security authorities announced early Sunday that a policeman was killed and three others injured in a shooting that targeted their vehicle in Cairo.