Bahrain Court Jails 6 Shiites over Alleged Attacks Plot

A Bahraini court on Sunday jailed six Shiites for 15 years for plotting attacks in the Gulf kingdom, including an to attempt to blow up the causeway with Saudi Arabia, lawyers said.

The six men arrested in November chanted in defiance: "victory is close," after the verdict was announced, according to one of the lawyers attending the hearing in Manama.

They are part of a group of eight, including two who remain at large.

Four were arrested in Qatar in possession of documents and a computer containing information about vital installations in Bahrain, in addition to flight tickets to Syria and cash in U.S. dollars.

The interior ministry had claimed that the eight formed a "terrorist cell" which plotted to attack important figures and vital installations, including the causeway linking the archipelago with the eastern province of Saudi Arabia.

Also among the alleged targets in the Sunni-ruled kingdom were the interior ministry itself and the Saudi embassy.

Bahraini security forces, backed by Saudi forces that rolled into the country across the King Fahd causeway, brutally quelled a month-long protest dominated by Shiites in mid-March last year.

Amnesty International estimates that 60 people have been killed since protests began on February 14 last year.