MANAMA – Bahrain on Saturday announced the arrest of 116 people accused offorming a terrorist cell allegedly tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, andsaid the country had averted a number of attempted terrorist attacks by thegroup on its security forces and its oil and other vital facilities.
State news agency BNA revealed that security services had seized a numberof arms and 42 kilograms of explosives as part of their investigation.
“The roles of terrorist elements have varied in planning, preparation andexecution between explosive carriers and field outlet, they wereresponsible for manufacturing, transporting and storing explosivematerials,” a Saturday statement from Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said,according to Arab News.
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards worked to form these terrorist elementsby uniting several terrorist organizations and collecting them in a singleframework and are behind the support, funding and training of elementsof terrorist organizations,” the statement went on.
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have intensified recruitment of terroristelements and provided them with funds, firearms and improvised explosivedevices.” As many as 48 of those detained had been trained in usingexplosives, firearms, artillery and even grenade launchers at IRGCfacilities in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, the Interior Ministry claimed.
Sunni-ruled Bahrain, with its Shia majority population, frequently accusesTehran of secret destabilizing efforts, which Tehran consistently denieslink>.