Bahrain Hit by Explosion Near U.S. Naval Base

An explosion near a key U.S. Navy base in the Persian Gulf wrecked the car of a top Arab newspaper editor Saturday, raising tensions in a country hit by weeks of unrest.

An anonymous caller claimed responsibility for the blast in the daily Al Ayam’s parking lot in the name of anti-government activists. A library employee was slightly injured.

It was the third explosion to target a high-profile business in Bahrain since the beginning of the year.

The newspaper building is only 200 yards from the U.S. Navy base south of the capital, the biggest naval facility in the region. A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been no damage to the base.

The explosion came a day after Bahrain, the Persian Gulf’s main financial center, named four men arrested in connection with a wave of bombings in which the targets have included two luxury hotels.

Al Ayam--Arabic for “the days”--is one of the top newspapers in Bahrain, with a daily circulation of 40,000.

Almost every day over the past month, Bahrain’s newspapers--all of them pro-government--have printed articles praising the ruling Khalifa family for cracking down on unrest.

*

There was no official confirmation that it was a bomb that damaged the car belonging to Nabeel Hamer, the newspaper’s chairman and editor in chief, on Saturday. Another car was also damaged.

But an anonymous caller told the Associated Press: “We put a bomb in Al Ayam newspaper, and we are saying the persons who were taken, they are not guilty.”

The caller was referring to four Shiite Muslims arrested in connection with the explosions at the two luxury hotels: the Royal Meridien on Jan. 17 and the Gulf-side Diplomat Hotel on Feb. 11.