DUBAI: Yesterday Bahrain sentenced 10 people to between three years and life in prison for attacking police during a protest in a Shiite village, the prosecution said.

The defendants were found guilty of involvement in “terrorist plots” and detonating explosives, the kingdom’s public prosecution said in a statement. “Four were sentenced to life in prison, while the remaining defendants were jailed for between three and 15 years,” it said.

The defendants were accused of detonating a roadside bomb when a police patrol passed in the village of Akr, south of Manama, in April 2014.

Three police vehicles were damaged in the attack, the prosecution said. Bahrain has been shaken by unrest since it quelled a month-long Shiiteled uprising demanding reforms which erupted on February 14, 2011. The tiny but strategically important kingdom is connected to regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia by a causeway.

It lies across the Gulf from Shiite Iran and is home to the US Fifth Fleet. Despite the crackdown on the 2011 uprising, protesters frequently attack police in Shiite villages outside the capital Manama. At least nine people were given jail terms of varying lengths earlier this month in cases involving attacks on police and a bus, as well as a “terrorist” plot. — AFP