There were no casualties in a bomb blast outside the British embassy in Bahrain today, a British embassy spokesman and the Bahraini interior ministry said.
"There were no casualties or damage to the embassy. We cannot identify yet the cause or the responsibility," an embassy official said. "We are working with the interior ministry and we have requested a temporary increase in security."
"Given the strength of the explosion and the debris it scattered, it was a highly-explosive substance that was used," a ministry spokesman said in comments on Twitter posted live from a news conference.
"The explosion was the result of a package placed under the front tyre."
A military court in Bahrain, meanwhile, has sentenced three sportsmen to one year in prison for taking part in pro-democracy protests that the Gulf Arab state crushed earlier this year, a lawyer said.
The three, all members of Bahrain's majority Shia community, are bodybuilder Tareq al-Fursani, a gold medallist in several Asian championships, Ali Said, a goalkeeper in the national soccer team, and Mohammed Hassan al-Dirazi, a member of the national basketball team, said lawyer Mohsen al-Alawi, who was in court when the verdicts were read today.
The men, who are not in detention and can appeal against their convictions, were tried in a military court because they are employees of the Bahrain defence forces. They were found guilty of illegal congregation, inciting hatred for the system, and not obeying orders regarding involvement in politics.
Inspired by revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets in February and March to demand an end to control of the government by the al Khalifa family.
The government, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet, said the protests were driven by Shia sectarian motives and fomented by Shia power Iran. Iran denied involvement.
The government cracked down on the protests by imposing martial law for nearly three months, sacking some 2,000 people from government jobs, detaining some 3,000 people and ordering military trials for several hundred. Alawi said 64 athletes are among those put on trial.
King Hamad has moved the trials to civilian courts and promised to implement the recommendations of a fact-finding commission headed by international rights lawyers who said detainees had suffered systematic abuse during the crackdown.
The commission found that there was no official policy to abuse protesters, but that five people had been tortured to death and other detainees had suffered electric shocks and beatings with rubber hoses and wires.