Bomb blast in Bahrain wounds several, government denounces ‘terrorist’ act
Bahraini women hold posters of Ali Mushaima who was killed last year during the deadly crackdown on street protests, during a rally calling for political reforms in the Shiite village of Jidhafs, West Manama, on March 23, 2012. Thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets of Shiite villages around the capital to demand reforms, with some calling for the ouster of the Sunni-ruled regime.
Officials today said three policemen were injured in an overnight explosion in the western Bahraini village of Diruz, reported Reuters.
The incident comes amid heightened unrest in the Gulf kingdom, which has seen days of protest over the holding of Sunday's Formula One race there despite the government's crackdown on dissent.
More from GlobalPost: Amnesty: 'rights crisis' in Bahrain despite reform pledge
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion. Police told BBC that a "terrorist" bomb was detonated near where authorities were trying to put out a fire in a shop in the predominantly Shia village late Tuesday night.
Bahrain's interior ministry tweeted that a "terrorist … bombing targeted policemen in the Diraz area and led to the injury of three policemen, two of them seriously," quoted Reuters.
Agence-France Press cited witnesses as saying that security forces responded to the incident by immediately shutting down the village.
Bahrain has also seen ongoing demonstrations over the jailing of human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, currently in his third month of a potentially fatal hunger strike in protest of his sentence.
The island kingdom has been in political turmoil for much of the past year, with over 40 people believed killed 1,600 arrested as authorities moved to quell the mainly Shiite-led uprising against the ruling Sunni monarchy, said BBC.
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