Flag of Bahrain
Flag of BahrainThinkstock

Bahrain's interior minister on Wednesday accused Iran of harboring 160 Bahrainis convicted of terrorism and stripped of their citizenship.

All 160 "fugitives" had been stripped of citizenship in "terrorism cases" targeting Bahraini police and security forces, Sheikh Rashed Al-Khalifa was quoted by AFP as having told the Arabic-language daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

He accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards of having trained the group, who were convicted of attacks that killed 25 security personnel and wounded 3,000 others.

In March, Bahrain claimed it had broken an Iranian-linked "terrorist cell" suspected of involvement in a bomb attack on a police bus and plotting to assassinate senior officials,.

At the time, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said that the 14-member cell was working under direct supervision from two exiled Bahrainis living in Iran.

Several weeks earlier, a 54-member terrorist organization involved in prison breaks and attacks on security forces was uncovered by Bahrain. 25 members of that group were arrested, while the others were at large.

Bahrain regularly accuses Iran of fomenting civil unrest and supporting attacks against security forces in the country. In 2015 Bahrain recalled its ambassador from Iran over these charges, which Iran denies.

In 2013 Bahrain became the first Arab country to blacklist Iranian-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.