Followup to the previous report...
Security forces arrested six Bahrainis suspected of links to the Al-Qaeda terror network who were preparing to carry out "grave acts ... with dangerous materials" in this Gulf state, the interior minister announced. "After widescale investigations and the inspection of various sites, the security forces arrested six people to stop them from carrying out grave acts against human lives and goods through the use of dangerous materials," said minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa. In a statement on the official Bahrain News Agency, he said the attorney general would take up the case after investigations were complete. A lawyer for the men told AFP earlier that they had been arrested before dawn and that it was unclear why they had been taken in. Lawyer Abdullah Hashim named the first three held as Bassam al-Ali and brothers Yasser Abdullah Kamal and Omar Abdullah Kamal. "Three others have been arrested," the lawyer said later identifying them as Mohedin Mahmud Khan, his brother Ali Mahmud Khan and Bassam Abdullah Bukhowa. Police also searched the home of Sheikh Mohammad Saleh and confiscated documents, books and computer discs, but he was not detained as at first thought.
| He'd be their spiritual advisor, of course... |
The suspects are believed to follow the extreme Sunni Salafi movement which is close to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.
| Another bunch of wahhabis... |
Hashim said he received a call from some of his clients alerting him to the arrest operation. "I advised them to ask the police for the arrest and search warrant, but the call was cut off," he said. "I don’t think there is a reason to arrest them and I don’t think they have any activities which call for an arrest." Bassam al-Ali, 48, was one of five arrested in February 2003 for allegedly running a terror cell in the Gulf state but released last June for lack of evidence.
| "Yeah. Dey dint have nuttin' on me. Da witnesses wuz all dead!" |
Mohedin Khan and Bukhowa were also alleged to be members of the cell. Bahraini officials had announced the discovery of weapons and ammunition intended for use against Bahraini interests amid inquiries into suspected links to Al-Qaeda. One of the five, Jamal Hilal Mohammad al-Blushi, was jailed by a military court for three years, fined 1,300 US dollars and dismissed from the national guard for keeping arms and weapons at home. The father of the Kamal brothers, Abdullah, said one had been picked up at an internet cafe, the other at home. "What can a youngster like Omar do, he’s only 17," he protested.
| Cut somebody's head off? Plant some explosives? |
Saleh was also arrested in Saudi Arabia in July last year and released in April.
| "Now, be a good boy, hear?" |
MP Mohammad Khaled told AFP, Saleh had been taken in after receiving a telephone call from one of 26 men named on a list of most wanted militants in the kingdom. |