Iraq's charge d'affaires Abdullah Jaburi was called to the foreign ministry and informed of the order against Nazem Jawad to leave, the state-run Bahrain News Agency said, quoting a ministry spokesman.

The first secretary was "in contact with an Iraqi citizen, Abdul Amir Hasnun who is implicated in the explosion on March 24 and has carried out activities which are incompatible with his diplomatic work," the spokesman said.

A gas bottle left in a dustbin exploded near the Al-Jufair base which serves as headquarters for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

No one was reported hurt but residents said windows nearby were shattered.

The explosion was just 250 metres (yards) from the naval base, east of the capital Manama.

Washington has called for Iraqi diplomats to be kicked out around the world and many nations have obliged, including Jordan, but Bahrain was the first to take action in the Gulf.

Egypt Wednesday denied that it had forced the first secretary at Iraq's embassy to leave Cairo as reported by Iraqi satellite television.

The US State Department announced on March 20 as it unleashed cruise missiles on Baghdad that it had formally asked governments worldwide to shut down Iraqi embassies and diplomatic missions until new authorities were in power in Baghdad.

Most of the 5,000 Americans residing in Bahrain, declared a major non-NATO ally by Washington last year, are military personnel with the Fifth Fleet. Some 3,000 military personnel and dependents live in Al-Jufair.

Bahrainis have repeatedly held anti-war protests and clashed with police outside the US embassy in Manama since the United States launched its military campaign against Iraq. The embassy has since been closed.

US military personnel have been stationed here since Manama, which currently chairs the Arab League, signed an agreement with Washington in the early 1970s granting the US Navy facilities at the base.

However that did not stop Bahrain's King Hamad from offering asylum to Saddam Hussein just hours before the expiry of a US ultimatum for the Iraqi leader to quit or face war.

SPACE.WIRE