Manama: Two Bahrainis have been arrested on charges of plotting a number of car bomb attacks over Eid Al Fitr.
The string of attacks were planned to occur in 10 populated areas, using stolen cars loaded with locally-made highly explosive devices, as part of a plot to undermine Bahrain's stability, spread chaos, terrorise innocent people and damage public and private property, the interior ministry said on Tuesday night.
The two men, arrested on September 8, two days before Eid Al Fitr, had prepared the explosives in a rural area, near Jid Hafs, a small town west of Manama, using manuals on how to make remote-controlled explosive devices, which they bought abroad.
The men decided on the type of cars to steal and use for the remote-control attacks, said the ministry.
An experiment recreating the devices, carried out by forensic experts, showed they were capable of hurling shrapnel and debris across a radius of 150 metres and up to 100 metres in the air, which would have had a devastating effect on people and property, the ministry said.
Both suspects have been presented to the public prosecutor.
The ministry's statement was issued hours after a dawn raid was carried out on the parked stolen cars in the driveway of a house belonging to security staff.
The attack in Hamad Town, 25 kilometres south of Manama, damaged the cars, but caused no casualties.
Al Wefaq, Bahrain's largest society, has condemned the attack.
