Manama: Bahrain’s interior ministry on Sunday said that it had arrested three suspects in the car blast that rattled the country last week.
“Three suspects involved in the terror act near Shaikh Eisa Bin Salman Mosque in West Riffa have been arrested,” the interior ministry said on its Twitter account. “Legal procedures have been taken and the suspects were produced before the Public Prosecutor,” the ministry added, vowing to publish a full report on the incident.
No one was injured in the gas-cylinder explosion inside a car at the parking of the mosque, the largest place of worship in Riffa, 15 kilometres south of the capital Manama, at around 8.30pm when worshippers were performing the evening and Taraweeh (post evening) prayers.
However, the car blast and the location have caused deep consternation in the kingdom and King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa called for the full application of the law against those who “incited, participated and assisted in the acts of terror” during the sacred month, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said.
Such acts are alien to the values and morals of the people of Bahrain who have had enough with them, the king said.
Lawmakers, political societies and religious and community leaders as well as embassies in Manama and international organisations have condemned the blast.
Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa said that the bombing was “an ugly and despicable terrorist act that targeted a house of God and its worshippers in a cheap attempt to drag the country into a sectarian and doctrinal situation that is religiously unacceptable and officially and popularly condemnable”.
“Such attempts that are considered a dangerous escalation in the acts of terror will not succeed to defeat the determination of the people and the resolve of the government keen on resisting them,” Prince Khalifa was quoted as saying by BNA. “The higher interests of the nation require a high sense of patriotic responsibility and acts in order to confront those who attempt to undermine relations between the people of Bahrain.”
Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa said that all people should speak out against violence and terror.
“The community leaders who lapse into silence should assume their responsibilities,” he said. “We are not at all pleased with the leaders who incite violence and are not serious about reaching an accord. Those who are genuinely sincere about a consensus should condemn and ban violence,” he said.
Briefing Parliament Speaker Khalifa Al Dhahrani, heads of parliamentary blocs and members of the foreign affairs, defence and national security committee on the incident, Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa on Saturday called on the lawmakers to enact tougher laws to protect Bahrain from acts of terror.
He said that there was a critical need to differentiate between legitimate freedom of expression and inciting terror and violence.
