Bahrain urges war on ‘evil theocracy’

MANAMA — Bahrain urged the international community to focus its efforts on combating the "evil theocracy" of jihadist groups such as the Islamic State (IS), at the opening of a security conference on Friday.

"I call on you to discard the term 'war on terror' and focus on the real threat which is the rise of this evil theocracy," said Bahrain's crown prince, Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

"We are fighting theocrats... We will be fighting these theocrats for a very long time," said the prince, whose country is part of a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes on the IS group which has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq.

Referring to the jihadists' harsh and rigid interpretation of Islam, Prince Salman said: "The 17th century has no place in our modern 21st."

The annual Manama Dialogue, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies and running until Sunday, is being attended by defence ministers, military officials and security experts from around the world.