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Bahrain: Terrorist Plot to Assassinate Figures, Target Oil Pipelines Thwarted

Bahrain: Terrorist Plot to Assassinate Figures, Target Oil Pipelines Thwarted

Thursday, 16 November, 2017 - 07:45
Fire at the Bapco oil pipeline in the village of Buri in Bahrain on Friday. (Reuters)

Chief of Public Security Major-General Tariq al-Hassan announced that Bahraini security bodies thwarted a terrorist attack against three oil pipelines and public figures in the kingdom, noting that disclosing the plot was prior to targeting the Saudi-Bahraini pipeline next to Buri, last Friday.


Directives were given by a terrorist residing in Iran and having ties with the Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), he added, stressing that the incident of targeting the Saudi-Bahraini pipeline is still under investigation due to its significance.


Security bodies are confronting terrorist groups supported by a state, hinting on Iran and its role in backing terrorism in Bahrain, Hassan said.


He revealed confiscating arms’ cargoes and ready-to-use explosives, and the fact that terrorist cells members in Bahrain received training in creating improvised explosive devices and were provided required materials for them.


“What indicates the high danger of terrorism” is the fact that targeting oil facilities has political-economic purposes in addition to causing the highest possible damage and chaos, Hassan added.


Major-General stated that there is a superior committee headed by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa – the committee discusses insuring oil establishments and pipelines. Targeting public figures is not a new thing in regard to terrorist cells in Bahrain, but “the new thing is the change of strategies followed by these cells.”


Bahraini Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday disclosing a terrorist cell – the suspect arrested is part of a five-man terror cell identified for plotting to assassinate prominent figures and target three oil pipelines.


The cell is led by Qassim al-Muamen, fugitive in Iran and sentenced to life-imprisonment -- Muamen's nationality is also revoked.


The terrorist cell includes: Qassim Abdullah Ali Ahmed, also known as “Qassim al-Muamen”, 28, Sadiq Jaffar Mohammed Abdullah Al Tooq, 36, wanted on terror-related charges, Mahdi Ebrahim Jassim Abdullah, 28, was the third identified member and was earlier sentenced in absentia to 30 years on terror charges, Mohammed Mahdi Mohammed Hassan, 39, a heavy truck driver, and Zuhair Ebrahim Jassim Abdullah, 37.


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