Bahraini foreign minister blames Hezbollah

MANAMA, Bahrain, March 30 (UPI) -- Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheik Khaled bin Hamad al-Khalifa accused Hezbollah of training anti-government activists in his country to topple the regime.

"We have a lot of proof on that and we would make our accusations at the appropriate time," he said in an interview published Wednesday in the London-based al-Hayat newspaper.

Defending his country's decision to brand Hezbollah a terrorist organization, al-Khalifa said: "We woke up one day to hear on television that the party's secretary general (Hassan Nasrallah) is attacking Bahrain, accusing it of injustice and cursing its leaders and vowing to interfere in our internal affairs."

Bahraini Interior Minister Sheik Rashed bin Abdullah al-Khalifa Tuesday made similar statements before the Parliament, the Lebanese Web site Ya Libnan.com reported.

He accused the predominantly Shiite protesters of being linked to Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the Web site said. The tactics used by the demonstrators he said "reveal a link and training style of Hezbollah."

The minister said 24 people have been killed in month long anti-regime protests.