Bahrain said on Thursday its forces had killed three men and captured seven during a gun battle at sea as they tried to flee to Iran, linking most of the men to a deadly prison break last month.

Black clad commandos in masks traded gunfire with the men as they sped away from the island kingdom on a small boat, according to footage broadcast at a police press conference.

Two men were wounded among the seven suspects captured, who police chief Tariq Al-Hassan said were involved in an array of militant activities including bomb-making and killing policemen.

Security forces spotted the boat leaving a Bahraini port but it did not comply with police orders to stop, Hassan said.

“The target began to shoot heavily, to which we responded directly and took control of the boat,” Hassan told reporters.  

“The defendants were in contact with terrorist elements in Iran, and terrorist elements awaiting them outside Bahrain’s territorial waters were waiting to convey them to Iran.”

Among the fugitives, Hassan added, were several who carried out an attack on Bahrain’s Jau prison in January in which a policeman was killed and several prisoners escaped.

Security forces were involved in two separate operations on Thursday, according to the Bahrain News Agency.

The first operation occurred at dawn in Bahrain’s surrounding waters, and was undertaken following an attempt by escapees from Jau prison to flee to Iranian waters.

The Ministry of Interior has named the deceased as Redha Abdulla Isa Al-Ghasra, 29, a fugitive sentenced to 79 years and life imprisonment, Mahmood Yousif Habib Hasan Yahya, 22, and Mustafa Yousif Yousif Abd Ali, 35.

Three of those arrested are suspects in the terrorist attack on Jau Prison, aiding and abetting fugitives, or both. The other four were named as being involved in the aiding and abetting of fugitives and the concealment and movement of firearms and explosives.

The coast guard authority said that items found on the vessel included a Kalashnikov assault rifle which was used to attack the coast guard vessels, a GPS system and satellite phone, ID cards, money and personal items. 

A second operation undertaken by authorities was connected to the Jau prison attack, involving the murder of First Lt. Hisham Al-Hammadi, who was gunned down Jan. 29, and the shooting of a police officer on Jan. 14. Two individuals were arrested, who were found to be in possession of two Kalashnikov rifles and three firearms. 

Bahrain, which has been wracked by unrest, accuses non-Arab Iran of fanning unrest and supporting militants involved in armed attacks in the kingdom. 

Bahrain earlier this month executed three men convicted in the death of three policemen, including an Emirati officer, in a 2014 bomb attack. 

Thousands of rioters are in jail on charges ranging from participating in anti-government protests to armed attacks on security forces in the kingdom, where the US Fifth Fleet is based.

On Monday, Bahrain’s top court rejected an appeal by the country’s main opposition group Al-Wefaq against its dissolution over terrorism-related

— With AFP, Reuters

Source : Arab News