Bahrain’s chief of police says five suspects with links to Iran have been arrested in connection with a bombing last month that killed two police and wounded six others, the Associated Press reported.
Maj Gen Tariq Al Hassan says investigators have connected the suspects to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), as well as Hezbollah, the Iranian-armed and funded group in Lebanon.
The statement by Bahrain’s interior ministry was carried by the state-run news agency on Thursday. The July 28 bombing targeted a bus carrying policemen near a primary school south of the capital in an area called Sitra.
Bahrain has faced years of clashes between anti-government activists and police following widespread 2011 protests.
According to the Gulf News, in confessions aired by Bahrain Television on Thursday afternoon, the suspect said he had carried out several attacks on police security in Sitra and that he decided to leave Bahrain.
He added that he was taken with other people from Bahrain to Iran where he was met by three people who were reportedly members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The Bahraini group was moved to the Iranian city of Qum before they were transferred to Iraq where they were taken to a training camp about two hours away from Baghdad. There, he said, they were given intensive training on the use of weapons over several days.
The suspect then explained how, upon returning to Bahrain, they planted the bomb.
Other suspects who appeared on Bahrain Television gave details on how they detonated the bomb that targeted the bus carrying the policemen.
According to the chief of police, forensic tests of the Sitra bombsite indicate that high-grade explosives (C4) were used.
