Bahrain is saying a 14-member group backed by Iran planned assassinations in the island kingdom. The Interior Ministry issued a statement early Monday saying 11 members of the group "are suspected of receiving overseas military training under the supervision of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah in Iraq." It says police had arrested 14 suspects in raids that saw officers seize weapons and explosives. It says the group's two leaders are abroad in Iran. The group is also suspected of a bomb attack on a bus in February that injured five police officers. The statement said weapons, locally-made explosives and communication equipment had been seized from the homes of the suspects. It said the cell was being financed and directed from Iran by Qassim Abdullah Ali and Mortada Majid Al-Sanadi. The US State Department in March labeled Sanadi and another Bahraini identified as Ahmad Hasan Yusuf as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists". Earlier this month, Bahrain announced it had uncovered a group comprising 54 members suspected of involvement in attacks on security forces, including organizing a prison break in January, and seizing automatic weapons. Bahrain in February executed three men convicted in the death of three policemen, including an Emirati officer, in a 2014 bomb attack. On February 22, Manama announced the arrest of 20 people, including four women, in an operation aimed at dismantling "terrorist cells". Police said they were accused of planning attacks, helping fugitives and "receiving military training... in Iran and Iraq".
