[Khaleej Times] Bahraini authorities have arrested a 'terror cell' of two suspected of plotting attacks in the kingdom and the region, the interior ministry said.Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said the suspects were arrested on April 26 in a police raid which recovered two AK-47 assault rifles and a pistol, with ammunition. "The terror cell was plotting and preparing for terror attacks in the kingdom of Bahrain and some neighbouring countries," he said in a statement carried by the official BNA news agency late on Thursday.
He said the two suspects have been kept in custody for further questioning.
He warned Bahrainis against 'the danger of terrorist Internet web sites that aim to mislead the youth and indoctrinate them with extremist ideas, to attract them into terrorist organisations."
Lawyer Abdullah Hashem, who is representing one of the two suspects, said the two men were not linked to any organisation and had not plotted any attacks. "We confirm that this was not a (terror) organisation. It was just a friendship between two men who shared the same beliefs," he said, adding that they "do not belong to any organisation or any local group".
"There were no plots or any specific targets," he said, adding that the two men, each 22, had kept the weapons only because they considered them to be 'manly and heroic' in accordance with local custom.
In February, a Bahraini court sentenced three men to up to five years in prison for belonging to and funding a 'terrorist' group abroad -- a term that is usually used to refer to Al-Qaeda-linked groups.