Iran censures terror attack on Bahraini island

Iran has denounced a deadly terror attack in the southern part of the Bahraini capital of Manama, stressing the necessity to fight terrorism and extremism in the region.

“Terrorism and extremism are the main challenges facing the region,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Tuesday.

Two Bahraini police officers were killed in the blast in the island of Sitra on Tuesday, according to Bahrain’s Interior Ministry.

A Bahraini police officer inspects the site of a bomb blast on the island of Sitra, south of the capital of Manama, on July 28, 2015. © AFP

It added that a third police officer was seriously injured and five more officers who had received light to moderate injuries were being treated in hospital.

Afkham urged all regional countries to give priority to the battle against the root causes of extremist and terrorist threats in their security policies.

The Iranian spokesperson expressed hope that regional countries would pay serious heed to the fight against Takfiri terrorism and extremism.

She dismissed state media propaganda claiming that the explosives used were similar to those recently seized by security forces after allegedly being smuggled from Iran.

“Early information suggests that the explosives used in today’s terrorist attack are of the same type that were recently intercepted coming from Iran,” the state news agency said on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Bahrain claimed that it had foiled an arms and explosives smuggling plot by two Bahrainis with ties to Iran.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday strongly dismissed the “baseless” accusations and said such claims are aimed at preventing any progress in cooperation between Iran and the Persian Gulf states.

Afkham also on Sunday rejected Bahrain’s unfounded and repeated allegations and said, “It is obvious that the Bahraini government intends to cause tension in the region by repeating baseless accusations.”

She added that such “unconstructive” methods will fail to sap Iran’s “serious will” to continue responsible and confidence-building regional policies on the fight against the scourges of extremism and terrorism.