UK Troops Training Bahraini Snipers amid Regime Crackdown

Local Editor

British forces are providing training to Bahrain's armed forces on using sniper rifles, a report said, amid Manama's heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful anti-regime protests.

Elite troops from the Royal Navy's 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group are running week-long training courses for Bahraini soldiers, the British daily The Independent reported.

The most recent military training session took place in January during a visit by British special commandos to the tiny Gulf state, according to the report.

The training was provided on board the Royal Navy frigate HMS St Albans, which docked at HMS Juffair, a British naval base in Bahrain.

UK forces trained "multiple groups" of Bahraini personnel and were "awarded" Bahraini sniper badges in return.

Eventually, Bahraini authorities demanded that the elite snipers return to provide military training for "new recruits."

London, a staunch ally of the Al Khlifa regime, has approved more than 63.5 million dollars worth of arms sales to Manama since the 2011 popular uprising inside Bahrain against the regime.

The Manama regime has been cracking down on political dissent with military help most notoriously from Saudi Arabia, which has overtly deployed forces to Bahrain.

Besides, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said Britain was "providing training to brutal and unaccountable [Bahraini] security services."

Anti-regime peaceful demonstrators have been holding rallies on the streets of Bahrain since the beginning of the 2011 uprising, calling on the ruling family to relinquish power. The regime has killed scores of protesters and handed down long-term sentences to activists.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team