A BAHRAINI teenager, who worked on religious pilgrimages abroad, is accused of undergoing weapons and explosives training while on a trip to Iraq.
He has been charged with undergoing militia training, joining a terrorist cell and plotting to bomb strategic targets inside Bahrain – including facilities occupied by police personnel.
The teenager is on trial in Bahrain’s High Criminal Court, but has pleaded not guilty.
Recruited
He was arrested on the King Fahad Causeway on June 18, but another Bahraini, 21, who allegedly recruited him is still at large.
The 21-year-old has been charged with forming a terrorist cell and is being tried in absentia.
A detective yesterday said the terrorist cell was planning attacks against key locations in Bahrain.
“I received information from secret sources about a terrorist group receiving militia training in Iraq, in order to carry out attacks in Bahrain,” the officer told judges.
“I cannot reveal my secret sources for their own safety.
“I carried out investigations and discovered the defendants planned to target key establishments in the country.
“One of them (aged 21) recruited his co-defendant (aged 19) and helped him travel to Iraq to receive militia training. “They planned to target police camps and received weapons and explosives training abroad.
“In April this year he (the teenager) travelled to Iraq, where his Iraqi counterparts trained him on how to plant mines and plan shootings and bombings to cause maximum fatalities.”
In his statement to the Public Prosecution, the teenager said he and his co-defendant previously went to the same school. He said he was recruited to the terrorist cell after they met during a religious pilgrimage to Iraq.
The trial was yesterday adjourned until October 30 for a ruling.
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