Dubai Deputy Police Chief Says Hizbullah Trained Bahraini Bomb Attacker, Party Denies
Dubai's police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan slammed on Tuesday the Islamic Republic of Iran and its ally Hizbullah a day after a bomb explosion in Bahrain killed three policemen, including an Emirati.
However, Hizbullah “categorically” denied Khalfan's allegation, saying in a statement issued in the evening that “this claim is totally unfounded.”
“The suspect, who planted the bomb, has visited Lebanon and was trained by Hizbullah on carrying out bombings,” Khalfan said via his Twitter account.
“The suspect who is involved in assassinating Emirati First Lieutenant Tariq al-Shehi doesn't reside in an area far from the site of the explosion.”
On Monday, "three police personnel died in a terror blast in (the Shiite-populated village) Daih while police were dispersing rioters," Bahrain's interior ministry said on Twitter.
And the interior ministry in the United Arab Emirates said an officer from its police force was among the dead.
Shehi, who was part of a force established as part of common Gulf security pact, died along with two members of the Bahraini police force "while performing his national duty of maintaining order," said the UAE interior ministry.
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, which later quelled the month-long uprising.
Bahrain has always maintained the Gulf force did not take part in confrontations with protesters and have been deployed to protect vital installations.
Khalfan also considered in a tweet that the Iranian-backed Bahraini opposition “became an enemy of the Gulf states and a close fried of Persians.”
He pointed out that “an addition 1,000 Emirati policeman should be sent to Bahrain so that the enemies of the Arab Gulf understand that security in Bahrain involves us all.”
The Shiite-dominated opposition swiftly condemned Monday's bombing, stressing any political demands had to be voiced in a "peaceful" manner.
Clashes frequently erupt near Manama between security forces and Shiite protesters demanding the Sunni ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty surrender its grip on all key cabinet posts in favor of an elected government.
The explosion, on the outskirts of the Bahraini capital, is the most serious attack on the security forces in terms of casualties since the Shiite majority led an Arab Spring-inspired uprising in February 2011 against the Al-Khalifas.
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