MANAMA – Questioning of four men detained in connection with a bomb blast that killed three policemen in Bahrain last week showed they had been guided by “terrorists” abroad, public prosecutors said on Sunday. The Interior Ministry has said the blast occurred as police were trying to disperse protesters who were blocking roads in the village of Daih, west of the capital Manama. A statement from public prosecutors named four suspects who had been arrested, saying they had confessed to carrying out the bombing along with others. “It was also proven by their statements and what was found through inferences and investigations that they are working under the guidance of some terrorist elements abroad,” the statement said. “The violence we see in Bahrain is directly supported by elements of Iran,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa told the UN Human Rights Council. “This is terrorism. Premeditated. Pure and simple.” The prosecutors' statement said some defendants had been convicted in absentia and had been handed prison sentences ranging from five to fifteen years. Those found guilty of possessing explosives, weapons and ammunition could face the death penalty and have their citizenship revoked, it said. One of the three policemen killed was an officer from the United Arab Emirates serving in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) force operating in Bahrain. – Reuters
