Police in Bahrain arrest 7 terror suspects
(CNN) -- Security police Wednesday arrested seven men suspected of planning to bomb sites in Bahrain to "spread chaos and fear," and harm the national economy and foreign investments, the Interior Ministry said.
Six of the men were arrested briefly June 22 on suspicions of supporting Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, but were freed because of lack of evidence. Last month's arrests were believed to be related to one or more attacks in Saudi Arabia, officials told CNN.
After Wednesday's arrests in Manama, police searched the suspects' residences, where police say they found computers that had private files on how to make explosives, toxic and chemical agents. Investigators also found information on how to acquire the materials and how to train people to use them, the Interior Ministry said.
The men also allegedly had maps and pictures of various locations and used codes to confuse security investigators.
Police allege the men had contacted foreign militant organizations, had completed their plans against national and foreign interests and were ready to start their terrorist operations.
The arrests follow a U.S. State Department warning of possible attacks in Bahrain, the Persian Gulf oil state and financial hub where the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is based, and issued a mandatory evacuation order for nonemergency U.S. defense employees and family members of U.S. military personnel.
Al Qaeda supporters have waged a yearlong campaign of violence in neighboring Saudi Arabia, targeting Westerners, government sites and oil workers in the kingdom and prompting some foreigners to flee the country.
