Flag of Bahrain
Flag of BahrainThinkstock

Bahraini authorities have foiled a “terrorist” plot planned by a cell trained in Iraq, the interior ministry said Sunday, according to the Al Arabiya network.

The ministry said in a statement that investigations have led to the arrest of individuals suspected of carrying out “terrorist acts in the kingdom” under Saraya al-Ashtar, a blacklisted anti-government group.

The state-run Bahrain News Agency said those arrested confirmed they are members of the group.

Some of those arrested were “assigned to form a terrorist group targeting policemen,” the news agency added.

Saraya al-Ashtar was formed in late 2012 by Ahmed Yousif Sarhan, 26, and Jassim Ahmed Abdullah, 39, who are now “fugitives in Iran,” according to Al Arabiya.

They are both accused of organizing “terror operations in Bahrain” and recruiting individuals to join Saraya al-Ashtar, the Bahrain News Agency said.

In late 2014, they reportedly sent recruits to Iraq to receive “military, explosives and weapons training” by a group called the “Hezbollah Brigades.”

Bahrain, which blacklisted the group last year,  has also blacklisted Hezbollah as a terrorist group, becoming the first Arab country to do so. The country cited evidence that Hezbollah was attempting to incite terrorism from abroad. 

A Shiite-led uprising against the Bahraini kingdom was crushed in 2011, but security incidents and sporadic demonstrations have persisted since.