London, May 29 (PTI) Britain trained Saudi Arabia's forces which were sent into neighbouring Bahrain to help crush a pro-democracy uprising in the tiny gulf kingdom early this year, a media report said today.

Saudi Arabian National Guard, the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain, was given training in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles by British military mission, The Observer newspaper reported citing government documents.

Britain's Ministry of Defence has confirmed that its personnel regularly run courses for the national guard in "weapons, fieldcraft and general military skills training, as well as incident handling, bomb disposal, search, public order and sniper training".

The courses are organised through the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, an obscure unit that consists of 11 British army personnel under the command of a brigadier.