Manama, June 22 (Reuters): Bahrain said today it had arrested six people, who are suspected of having links to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida network, to thwart “dangerous” attacks in the kingdom which is home to the US navy’s Fifth Fleet.

The arrests follow a Friday warning by the US state department about the possibility of militant attacks in Gulf region.

Interior minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah al-Khalifa told the official Bahrain News Agency the men were arrested to “prevent them from committing dangerous operations that would have threatened people and their possession.” But the lawyer of five of the detainees, Abdullah Hashim, said the men were suspected of having ties to al Qaida.