DUBAI: Bahrain said on Saturday that it had arres­ted 116 people accused of belonging to a “terror” cell allegedly linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

An official statement on state news agency BNA said that security services had in the process thwarted a number of attacks and seized large quantities of arms and explosives.

Authorities in the tiny Gulf state have cracked down hard on dissent since mass street protests in 2011 which demanded an elected prime minister and constitutional monarchy in the Sunni-ruled, Shia majority kingdom.

Bahrain frequently accuses opposition figures of links to Shia Iran, which denies supporting any bid to overthrow the government.

The statement charged that the cell planned to target leading security figures and carry out attacks on oil and other vital installations.

It accused those detained of being members of a cell formed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and said that as many as 48 of those detained had received military training in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.

They received training on the use of explosives, light arms, artillery and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the statement.

Police seized 42 kilograms of high explosives, 757 kilograms of materials used to manufacture explosives, several Kalashnikovs and grenades, it said.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2018