Court to hear bomb blast case on April 25

Manama : Suspects in a bomb explosion case have been referred to High Criminal Court for a hearing on April 25 following thorough investigations, Chief of Terror Crime Prosecution, Advocate General Ahmed Al Hammadi, said yesterday.

Of the 15 suspects in the case, nine are in custody. The suspects are facing charges of organising and running a terror group, training in weapons and explosives, manufacturing, possessing, transporting weapons and carrying out explosions in which a security man and a woman who was passing by the blast site were injured.

The Public Prosecution received a report on July 5, 2017, from the Criminal Investigation Directorate informing that some terrorist elements had set up two cells affiliated with the blacklisted Saraya Al Ashtar (Al Ashtar Brigades).

Investigations indicated that the first suspect in cohort with the second, third, fourth and fifth suspects who are fugitives and wanted by Bahrain, set up the two terrorist cells. 

The first suspect assumed the control of both cells. A group of suspects were recruited and sent to receive militia training abroad in order to carry out terrorist attacks in Bahrain.

 A group of suspects were tasked to establish warehouses to conceal the weapons, explosive materials used in manufacturing them. A large cache of weapons and explosives were seized.

Members of the group carried out terrorist attacks in 2017, including the detonation of a homemade explosive device in Bu Saiba area on February 4, 2017.