Mourners, including family members, carry the body of policeman Ammar Abdulrahman Ali during a funeral procession in Hananya in Bahrain yesterday. Ali was one of the three policemen who were killed on Monday by a remotely detonated bomb in the village of Daih during a protest.

AFP

Manama

Bahrain yesterday vowed to eliminate “terrorism,” a day after a bomb killed three policemen in a village, in the deadliest attack on security forces since they crushed the 2011 uprising.

Clashes frequently erupt near the capital Manama between security forces and protesters demanding political reforms.

Ministers at an extraordinary meeting pledged to “take the necessary measures to eradicate terrorist groups and those who support them,” BNA state news agency said.

They asked the interior ministry “to carry on relentlessly its combat against terrorism” following Monday’s bomb attack in Daih village, on the outskirts of Manama.

The explosion was the bloodiest attack on the security forces since an Arab Spring-inspired uprising in February 2011.

An officer from the United Arab Emirates was among the three personnel killed in the Daih bombing.

He is the first Gulf officer reported to have been killed since forces from the region rolled into Bahrain in March 2011 to boost the kingdom’s security forces.

Bahrain has always maintained that the Gulf force does not take part in confrontations with protesters and has only been deployed to protect vital installations.

The United Arab Emirates’ interior ministry said First Lieutenant Tariq al-Shehi was part of a force established as part of a Gulf security pact.

Bahraini security forces deployed in several villages yesterday, establishing checkpoints and arresting at least 12 men, witnesses said.

Security forces have cordoned off Daih since Monday, they said.

At their meeting, the ministers also listed the so-called February 14 movement, Saraya al-Ashtar (Ashtar Brigade) and Saraya al-Muqawama (Resistance Brigade) among “terrorist groups,” BNA said.

They urged Bahrainis to be “nationally responsible and not stand beside the terrorists and vandals.” They also tasked the justice ministry with keeping an eye on political associations and mosque preachers that use “hatred and sectarian speech.” 

The statement came as a Bahraini court sentenced 10 people to prison terms of between three to 15 years for a December 2012 attack on a police station in which there were no casualties.

The longest terms were handed down to two of those convicted over the attack in the village of Khamis, near the capital, while seven received 10 years and the other three years.

Six opposition groups, led by al-Wefaq, condemned Monday’s deadly attack on the policemen.

“The sanctity of the blood applies to every human being,” said a joint statement.

It called on supporters to “adhere to peaceful means and condemn and disclaim criminal acts claimed by the so-called al-Ashtar Brigades or Resistance (Brigades) or any other party that claims responsibility for bomb attacks and violence.”

But Citizens for Bahrain, widely regarded as a pro-government group, said the condemnation was not enough.

“It is good that the Bahraini opposition has come out and condemned the killing of three policemen. However, it should recognise that the terrorists who perpetrated these acts are the seeds of its own creation,” it said in an e-mail yesterday.