Manama accuses Iraq of supporting Bahrain 'terror groups'

Bahrain's foreign minister has summoned the Iraqi ambassador to protest over allegations regarding weapons training being given in Iraq to a Bahraini armed group.

MENA

1 min read

Al-Araby al-Jadeed

11 June, 2015

Bahrain's protests during the Arab Spring were swiftly crushed [AFP]

Bahrain has alleged that an armed anti-regime group is being trained in Iraq.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin-Khalifa summoned the Iraqi ambassador on Thursday to hand him a letter of protest, according to the Bahrain News Agency.

The minister urged Bahrain to prevent "terrorist groups" using Iraq to "recruit, train and incite" attacks on Bahrain.

Saraya al-Ashtar was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2014, after a string of attacks on security services personnel in Bahrain.

Last week, Bahraini TV broadcast "confessions" of four alleged members, who said that they had received military training in Iraq from "Hizballah Brigades" and had carried out bombings in Bahrain.

Bahrain has been criticised by human rights groups for the killing, imprisonment and torture of pro-democracy activists.

A wave of protests in 2011 were crushed when a pan-Gulf military force entered the island.