Bahrain is beefing up security measures around the country's mosques over threats made by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, the interior ministry said.
The measures were taken after a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in neighbouring Kuwait last week, in which an ISIL member killed 27 people.
Security volunteers trained by the civil defence were deployed in different parts of the country to support the work of the police on Friday, when large numbers of Muslims flock to mosques to perform noon prayers.
Police forces imposed stronger measures around the country's biggest mosques and screened worshippers as they entered to pray.
Last Saturday, ISIL commander Turki al-Binali, a Bahraini who has been stripped of his citizenship, announced on Twitter that "the next attack after Kuwait" would be in Bahrain.
/149