Blast kills Bahrain policeman; Amir sends condolences
DUBAI: A Bahraini policeman was killed and eight others wounded on Friday in a “terrorist” bomb attack on the bus in which they were travelling, the interior ministry said. The eight wounded policemen sustained serious to medium injuries and were admitted to hospital, the ministry said on its Twitter account. It said the attack was carried out by a “terrorist” group which remotely detonated a home-made bomb. Shiite militants applauded the attack and attributed it to a littleknown group.
The attack took place near the Shiite town of Jidhafs outside the capital Manama. Authorities opened an investigation into the attack and police began a manhunt to find and arrest the assailants, the ministry said. A ministry-released photograph showed shrapnel pelted the bus. A statement later released by the Mukhtar Brigade, a Shiite militant group that has claimed several similar attacks, said the bombing “gave the enemy a taste of what they’ve been doing to us all along”. It said the God’s Promise Brigade, which carried out a 2015 attack on police, was responsible.
HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah sent a cable to Bahraini King Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa over the terrorist attack. In the cable, Sheikh Sabah expressed Kuwait’s strongest condemnation towards the attack. HH the Amir also voiced Kuwait’s support and solidarity with the Bahraini leadership and people.
HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables.
Kuwait stands firmly with the Kingdom of Bahrain and supports all measures to preserve security and stability, a Kuwait foreign ministry source also said in a statement. He said these criminal acts would not discourage
the people of Bahrain from their quest to defeat terror. The source extended condolences to the family of the victim and wished rapid recovery for the wounded.
Bahrain has seen sporadic violence since a crackdown in 2011 on a protest movement demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. Last week, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed Al-Khalifa accused Iran of harboring 160 Bahrainis convicted of terrorism and stripped of their citizenship. He accused Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards of having trained the group, who were convicted of attacks that killed 25 security personnel and wounded 3,000 others. Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and a British army base is currently under construction. — Agencies