Bahrain minister warns Shiite leaders after weapons find

Apr 12, 2011, 22:07 GMT

Manama, Bahrain - The Bahrain government Tuesday warned the heads of mosques that they would be held responsible for events such as a weapons cache found in a Shiite mosque north of Bahrain's capital.

Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa met Tuesday morning with the justice minister and the heads of mosques, who he said would also be held responsible for incitement speeches and storage or distribution of pamphlets.

Since mid February, at least 20 protesters and four police officers have been killed in growing protests by the majority Shiite population, who are demanding reforms from the Sunni monarchy and government.

At the meeting, al-Khalifa declared that funeral marches would be reorganized to avoid traffic congestion and keep out foreigners. During nearly two months of Shiite protests against the mainly Sunni monarchy and government, funerals of protesters have served as a rallying point for new demonstrations.

Al-Khalifa also warned the religious leaders against using pictures of foreign flags and Shiite clergymen from Iran and Iraq, where Shiite Muslims are also in the majority, and from Lebanon.

The Ministry of Interior said it had discovered weapons and ammunition in a Shiite mosque in the village of Malkiya, north of the capital Manama.

The ministry said that three shotguns, live rounds of birdshot and Molotov cocktails were discovered inside the mosque after suspicious activity around the mosque raised alarm and prompted the search.

The ministry also released pictures of the guns and ammunition, which appear to be similar to those used by police to quell the on- going protests.

The statement did not elaborate on whether the guns had gone missing from police stock or had been smuggled into the small Gulf island nation, which has been seething with a wave of pro-reform protests since mid February.

Investigators were trying to determine the source of the guns and identify suspects.

Local residents reported increased police and military presence not only around the village of Malkiya but also in neighbouring Shiite villages of Damustan and Karzakan as night fell on Tuesday.

In addition to the deaths during protests, at least four detainees have died in police custody in less than two weeks, according to the Shiite opposition group al-Wefaq. Earlier Tuesday, Al-Wefaq identified the fourth death as that of businessman Abdul-Kareem Fakhrawi, 49.

The deaths come at a time of a severe security crack-down and increased sectarian tension in Bahrain, a Sunni monarchy where Shiites account for some 60 per cent of the population. Bahrain also serves as a home for the US Navy 5th Fleet Command in the region.

Manama authorities have accused Iran of interfering and inciting the protests to destabilize the regime and the regimes of neighboring Gulf states, a claim the opposition refutes. Protesters insist their demands rise from domestic needs.

In recent days Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) among other rights groups have criticized the Bahraini government crack-down.

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