Fourteen Bahrainis were arrested earlier this month by Bahraini security forces suspected of plotting to carry out terror attacks during the country’s national holiday on December 17, the Interior Ministry revealed on Saturday, according the local newspaper Gulf Daily News.
According to the ministry the group was planning to plant bombs in central, crowded places during the National Day celebrations.
The 14 men are believed to belong to the country’s Shi’ite minority and to have received training by non-Bahrainis in Syria during visits there under the pretext of visiting religious sites in August and September.
The operation was supposedly financed by two Bahraini national living in London, who, according the suspects, was also planning to smuggle large amounts of weapons into the country.
Just hours after the press conference, a power station along one of the main roads in the capital Manama was set ablaze. There were also reports of clashes between police and residents of Shi’ite villages and suburbs of the capital.
The tiny but oil-rich island nation of Bahrain is one of the closest U.S allies in the region and home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. There have been violent clashes in the past between the country’s Shi’ite minority and police. The Sunni leadership is also growing increasingly concerned about Sunni groups who openly support insurgency groups in Iraq and Afghanistan.