Sitra blast: Cops arrest two more key suspects

Manama 

Two fugitives who were wanted in the case of killing two policemen in Sitra two months ago were recently arrested, security authorities confirmed yesterday.

Interior Ministry stated, “As part of the Ministry’s counterterrorism efforts and in the interest of informing the public, two fugitives who are suspected of having been involved in the July 28 bombing in Sitra that killed two policemen and injured six others were arrested.”

Following the terrorist blast, the Ministry confirmed that five suspects were arrested, while others were on the run.

In a report aired on National Television, the suspects confessed in the interrogation to planning the attack on the on-duty policemen, adding that some of them received training abroad in military camps of the Revolutionary Guards of Iran and the Iraqi division of Hezbollah Terrorist Militias.

In a press statement issued yesterday, the Ministry explained that “investigations led to the discovery of a terrorist group operating through interconnected networks.  Five of the group’s members were previously arrested. The additional two arrests are of individuals who were convicted in absentia in other terrorist cases. They are Laith Khalil Al Tooq, and Ibrahim Jafar Al Muamen, 28. Legal proceedings are being taken to refer the case to the Public Prosecution.” Further investigations also proved the involvement of Ex MP and a member of Al Wefaq National Islamic Society Hussain Isa in the same case.

Isa, who was arrested after he returned from Iran, confessed in the Public Prosecution interrogation that he financed multiple terrorist groups, including the one responsible for the deadly blast in Sitra.

The blast took place near Sitra police station in the morning of July 28, while policemen were
exchanging shifts. 

It killed two on-duty policemen, Naweed Ahmed Nazar and Hamid Rasool Arif, while six others sustained injuries.  

The attack was highly condemned locally and internationally.