Manama: One policeman was killed and four others injured, including one seriously, in a terrorist blast in the village of Karranah, west of the Bahraini capital Manama, the Ministry of Interior said.
Three civilians, a couple and an infant, were also injured in the attack that occurred on Friday evening, the ministry posted on its Twitter account.
The injured civilians were a Bahraini citizen and his wife who were passing near the area where the blast happened and an infant who was with a parent, the ministry said.
Public Security Chief Major-General Tariq Hassan Al Hassan said that two homemade bombs were remotely detonated in the blast.
“The explosion occurred as security patrols were carrying out their duty to ensure the safety of the main road in the village after it was blocked by terrorist thugs,” Al Hassan said, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
“All specialised teams headed to the blast site as soon as the operations room was alerted about the explosion. Evidence was collected and an investigation was launched, resulting in the arrest of several suspects. The Public Prosecution was informed about the explosion,” he said.
Several security and legal measures were taken as troops were deployed, security control points were activated and traffic movement was arranged in some areas to ensure the safety of the citizens and residents, Al Hassan added.
Search and investigation operations launched after the blast resulted in the arrest of several suspects, the ministry said.
The blast in Karranah occurred exactly one month after a bomb killed two policemen and wounded six in Sitra, south of Manama. The attack was the deadliest in Bahrain in months.
According to BNA, preliminary details indicated that the explosives used in the Karranah blast resembled some seized during an attempt to smuggle them alongside weapons.
On July 25, the ministry said it had foiled an attempt to smuggle highly dangerous explosives and several automatic weapons and ammunition.
One of the suspects arrested in the smuggling attempt had received paramilitary training in August 2013 in a camp in Iran, the ministry said. He and another suspect confessed they coordinated with Iranians to receive four suits in the open sea from two men in a ship. The suspects’ own ship afterwards headed towards Bahrain.
The ministry added the arrested suspects admitted they were involved in two previous smuggling attempts, the first towards the end of 2013 and the second in early 2014.
Their attempts were carried out under the guise of fishing trips during which they transported the smuggled explosives and weapons from Iranian boats, BNA said.
