DUBAI, Dec 4, (Agencies): A bomb placed under a vehicle exploded near the British embassy in Bahrain’s capital Manama early on Sunday, but caused no casualties, the Gulf Arab state’s Interior Ministry said.
“Given the strength of the explosion and the debris it scattered, it was a highly explosive substance that was used,” a ministry spokesman said in comments on Twitter posted live from a news conference.
“The explosion was the result of a package placed under the front tyre,” he said, adding there were no casualties. He described the vehicle as a minibus parked some 50 metres (yards) from the embassy compound.
Bahrain has been tense since pro-democracy protests erupted in February following revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. The government imposed martial law for nearly three months and ordered mass detentions and trials to crush the protests.
The government, dominated by the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family, said the protests, led by majority Shi’ites, had sectarian motives and were fomented by Shiite power Iran.
A government-sponsored fact-finding commission headed by international rights lawyers said last month there was no evidence of Iranian interference but Bahrain said there was incitement by Iranian media.
A diplomatic crisis between Iran and Britain deepened last week after youths stormed the British embassy in Tehran in protest against banking sanctions Britain imposed over Iran’s nuclear energy programme.
Dubai-based defence and security analyst Theodore Karasik said the blast could be the start of an escalation in the social conflict in Bahrain, where there are still almost daily clashes between Shi’ite protesters and riot police.
“The timing is significant because it occurred during Ashura,” Karasik said. “What we might be seeing now is a cell or two that are being set up by disgruntled Bahraini Shiites who now use bombs to achieve their goals. It’s a jump to a new level.”
In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said British authorities were in contact with the interior ministry in Bahrain.
“We are aware of a small blast in a vehicle near the British embassy,” she told AFP. “Police and fire service attended the scene. There were no casualties or damage to the embassy.
She declined to speculate on the cause of the blast. “We are liaising with the ministry of interior,” she said.