2013-04-23 14:56
A Bahraini protester carries a pressurised fire extinguisher that is used to shoot iron arrows towards riot police during clashes following a protest against the Formula One Grand Prix. (Mohammed al-Shaikh, AFP)
Multimedia · User Galleries · News in Pictures
Send us your pictures · Send us your stories
Dubai – Two Bahraini girls were arrested for allegedly having plotted to carry out an attack on Sakhir circuit during the weekend’s Formula One Grand Prix race, police said on Tuesday.
Authorities arrested “two girls who were trying to carry out a terrorist act at Bahrain’s international circuit in the south, as the kingdom was hosting the Formula One race,” state news agency BNA quoted police as saying.
The pair were arrested on Saturday, the second day of practice sessions, at one of the entrances to the Sakhir circuit, south of Manama, said public security chief General Tariq Hassan.
He did not give the age of the girls but said one of them had concealed a pillow under her clothes and explained that this was a dry run “to test security measures.”
The pair, identified as Nafisa al-Asfur and Rihanna al-Musawi, are being held for 60 days on charges of seeking to “bomb the Sakhir circuit.”
The public security chief said 8 000 policemen had taken part in securing the race, against which thousands of Shi’ites had demonstrated the previous week.
He said police had seized 1 000 petrol bombs, 137 tyres protesters were planning to set ablaze as well as 72 fire extinguishers which were to be used as bombs.
The race took place without disruption despite the backdrop of daily clashes between protesters and police, in Shi’ite villages away from Sakhir.
Strategically located just across the Gulf from Iran, Bahrain is home base to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is also a major offshore financial and services centre for its Arab neighbours in the oil-rich Gulf.
The Shi’ite Muslim-majority kingdom, ruled by a Sunni dynasty, was rocked by a month-long uprising in 2011, which was crushed with the help of Gulf troops led by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Dutch police free school shooting suspect
Open all references in tabs: [1 – 6]